Like the Lamento di Mustafa e Bajazet, this cantata is a lament roughly based upon recent historical events, in this case, the death of Gustavus Adolphus II of Sweden, who was killed in battle in 1632. One French manuscript indicates that it was written at the request of Cardinal Mazarin, who later became Rossi's French patron and commissioned his second opera, Orfeo. There are in fact several contemporary manuscripts (some of which have minor differences in the text or the title, some of which do not have Rossi's name attached), witnessing to the work's popularity during Rossi's lifetime. Like Monteverdi's "Lamento d'Arianna," this lament also had a contrafacta, a religious lament set to the same music, another testament to its widespread popularity.

The text is by Fabio della Corgna, and probably bears no resemblance to the actual words spoken when Christine was notified of Gustavus' death. In an interesting twist, Christine was later to renounce her throne, become a Catholic, and move to Rome, the city where Rossi spent the majority of his life, presumably demonstrating that she indeed decided not to base her hopes and faith upon royalty.

While it is classified as an "aria di piu parte," (multi-part aria) as are many of Rossi's dramatic settings, there is less emphasis on variety of writing and more on an overall emotional effect. While he did not use word-painting to any major extent, he did use the accompaniment to add expressiveness. The opening accompaniment is over a particularly simple repeated arpeggio that becomes ominous with repetition, and when the messenger calls upon the queen to weep, that is accompanied by a series of notes that suggest weeping.

The queen's lines are almost solely recitative, often using halting phrases to emphasize her grief and shock. There is one aria passage, over a striking galloping motif in the accompaniment, as she calls for the armies to avenge the king's death, but after this section, her lines return to recitative and that same halting helplessness. This helplessness was a recurrent refrain in Rossi's laments, especially. The same phrase, "Ma che pro," (What for?) occurs in several others, including the "Lamento di Mustafa e Bajazet," "Sotto l'ombra," "Correa l'ottavo giorno," and "E che cantar," among many others.

As in Carissimi's "Lamento della Regina Maria Stuarda," there is one repeated line, "Datemi un che m'uccida, per pieta," (Give me one who will kill me, for pity") that recurs as a musical and dramatic refrain, as her mind consistently turns to death, whether she is thinking of their lost love, fears of being conquered by the enemy, or the mutability of fate.



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