A favorite of the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso's audiences, this song, with words by Francesco Cimino (1862 - 1938), was recorded several times by him over a span of years: the first recording, for the Gramophone and Typewriter company, occurred in the Grand Hotel, Milan, Italy, on December 1, 1902, with a piano accompaniment by Salvatore Cottone; this was followed by an attempted take for the Victor company on December 10, 1914, in New York City, but, for technical or artistic reasons, the master was destroyed; the last effort on January 7, 1915, with orchestral accompaniment, proved more successful and was issued.

The music of this poetic love song closely follows the imagery of the text as it wanders from ineffable feelings, automatically generated, to the awakening of more conscious and directed emotion. After a brief introduction on a simple guitar-like strumming pulse, the vocalist enters in a gently discursive tone on a melody that dips down each time before it rises to a steadily higher pitch of tone and intensity. The singer is speaking to someone innocent as a child and is explaining that "that of which I sing is a sweet murmuring, that is as pure as you" standing in the chilly air. (The "that" is in the feminine gender, so the title could be translated "Her of Whom I Sing" but that would be somewhat misleading and unnecessarily concretize the lightness of the images).

The singer calmly asks the "dear child" to not speak badly of his love for her. He notices a tear wandering "unrestrained" on her cheek and places on her "white virginal forehead" a "parting kiss, a kiss of goodbye" (il baccio dell'addio). Great rubato liberty of tempo is taken by Caruso with these last words and the strings weave a descending melismatic line that cascades beneath his sustained high notes. The last phrase is then repeated by the singer bringing the tension somewhat down and leaving room for more to be expressed. But the orchestra then cannot restrain itself to mere accompaniment and sings forth itself with a variation on the last few lines of the verse before calming down to the previous simple strumming part.

The vocalist enters immediately so that the build-up of tension is not lost. This time "that of which I sing" is said to "whisper light as the air" on its chilled, icy glaze. From these verses, we get the image of a parting taking place in the wintertime, and that the "chill" is a metaphor describing emotional coldness; in this case, an empty feeling caused by the sadness of parting. But the loved one is asked to discard "the chill and the darkness" and "awaken every anxiety more" so that each "affection soothes your heart." She is reminded that "In the hours you are alone, asleep, that of which I sing is a tremor of love" (un fremito d'amore).

The singer does not repeat the last words this time, leaving "amore" resonating in our ears and hearts.

© All Music Guide