“This exquisite 1840 madrigal, for example, was based on a poem…

…from The Maid’s Tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, which was entered into the Stationers’ Register on this day in 1619.

It’s sung, heart on sleeve, in Act 2 by the character Aspasia, at the moment she realizes that her betrothed has been forced into a marriage of convenience with the King’s mistress…”

See YEAR OF WONDER: Classical Music for Every Day (2017), by Clemency Burton-Hill: 28th April entry.