The Lamento Lagrime mie, a plaint and a reflection on the subject of tears, begins and ends with a heart-wrenching harmonic e-minor scale falling a 9th from e” to d#’, hovering on notes belonging to the dominant harmony, over a tonic pedal in the continuo. Trills on two of these long notes, displaced in anticipation of a possible accommodation of the harmony, increase the resulting dissonance and mimic the desire to sob of the lover who asks why his tears are not pouring forth!

This 8 bar R...