A madrigal is a secular vocal piece of music in the Renaissance early baroque period, traditionally polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied. The piece is an example of a seconda prattica, this style of writing is where the lyrics are more important. This is shown by the word painting for example the elongated slid Ohi-mè go down in pitch sounds like sighing which creates dramatic effect and exaggerates the desperation and moaning. Then the sudden quavers is bar 5 show the excitement and the change of mood as they are quick and exciting. This is another example of word painting which is typical of a 17th century madrigal. Bars 5-6 are imitated and repeated around the parts which shows the spread of excitement.

Another example of 17th century madrigal is the tierce de picardie for example in bar 18-19. A tierce de picardie is a type or perfect cadence but it finished on a major chord in a minor key. This piece is in D minor but the chord finishes on D major but because of the harmonic series there is no bad echo. Another example of a tierce de picardie is at bar 28 but this type of cadence is called a feminine cadence as it doesn't finish on the strong beat of the bar. Even though this piece is in D minor the keys tend to vary and the tonality is quite ambiguous.

A madrigal has between 2 and 6 parts and this piece has 5 different parts. The canto has a soprano range from middle C to G a 12th above. The quinto is more of a second soprano than an alto as it crosses above the canto when given an idea previously sung by that part for example bar 10 and 14. In general the canto and quinto part work in parallel 3rds but do cross over, both of them have an equal range. The alto part is a high tenor part with a range of F sharp below middle C to A, tenth a above. The tenor part is baritone part which occasionally crosses over the alto with a range of D below middle C to F a 10th above. The bass is an actual bass part with a range of low F to a B flat an 11th above. The top notes of the canto, alto and tenor parts are reserved to the first syllable of Ohi-mè so in a sense the singers are crying out at the top of their voices. Typically all voices share the same rhythm so it is a chordal, homophonic texture but sometimes the parts are in counterpoint with a little imitation for example in bar 39 with the Ma se cor mio. A development of the canto and quinto working in parallel 3rds is in bar 50 when they are in inverted parallel 5ths which is evidence that the piece was composed in the late renaissance early baroque period.

Monteverdi composed this piece before functional tonality emerged in the late baroque period. For Monteverdi modes were available, which are several types of diatonic scales. We can identify the Dorian mode transferred to G with the key signature of one flat. However the composer blurred the mode by often using E naturals to E flats which was customary to this time. These are called false relations. Apart from the false relations Monteverdi used tonic and dominant notes emphasised, especially the bass pedal notes in section 3 and the chords 1 and 5 are important.

False relations are a chromatic alteration between parts in consecutive beats which creates a nice sounding tension and dissonance. For example in bar 39 to 40 there is an F natural in the canto part and then an F sharp in the bass part. Then an E flat in the canto part in beat 2 bar 50 and a E natural in beat 3 of the bass part. As well as the false relations being typical of a 17th century madrigal the tempo is also typical as it is a rubato tempo which pulls the time around, lengthening some notes and then making the next notes quicker to make up for it.