Many of the greatest madrigals achieve their small glory by the magical way they blend, shift, and combine varying emotions. Monteverdi's second book of madrigals is extraordinary for many reasons, one of them being the way the madrigals perform that difficult trick, but also for the entirely new degree of formal unity the pieces have despite their affective plurality. Non m'è grave is one of the few madrigals in Book 2 that barely mixes humors, so Monteverdi demonstrates instead his ability to develop the rich nuances of a single emotion through many musical means. Lyrically sad, tragic, melancholy; these words describe the mood that is allowed to settle over much of the work without any mitigation.

The first long section passes gracefully, seamlessly through many different textures and smaller phrases. The gentle overlapping of cadences, soft lyricism, with many phrases constantly rewoven into the fabric, and the pillowy harmony all disguise the transitions. Two minutes of quite diverse music leave the impression of having been a single, unbroken, dreamlike musical thought. The second section begins with a six separate homophonic statements, in different vocal groupings, climaxing with a slow, but brief tutti. Then we arrive, after what was essentially a bridge, or a time-out, at the point of the whole work: a long concluding passage of suspensions, not especially harsh, but extremely moving all the same. Mostly these set the last line "weep for pity over my death."

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