The Song of Songs plunges us into a lush world of ripe fruits, deep waters, scorching heats, and cooling shades. This intense imagery — the Hebrew Bible’s richest and most succulent — drives poetry that is both straightforwardly erotic and tantalisingly allegorical in its exploration of love both human and divine. This heady combination invites a huge range of approaches, from Bianca Maria Furgeri’s flowing Ego flos campi for upper voices to Tomás Luis de Victoria’s epic, six-part Vadam et circumibo civitatem.
