This piece is Bellini's shortest published work, lasting barely a minute in most performances. It is likely a student composition, written as an exercise in the canon style for two voices. With the close intertwining of the voices and hints of word painting in the descending lines, which seem to suggest tears, it resembles the main body of Bellini's work far less than it resembles late Italian Renaissance madrigals, particularly Monteverdi's, though the imaginative use of melody still reminds the listener of his gift for lyricism, and the occasional unusual harmonies in the voices also recall his musical innovations.

© Anne Feeney, All Music Guide