Dolcissimo sospiro is baroque in the use of "clair obscur", a technique also employed in painting and sculpture of the early baroque era. Love and joy are juxtaposed with pain and death, and the "sweetest sighs" of the title are ones of hope and despair. We are in early 17th century Italy. Composers such as Caccini, Monteverdi, Merula and d'India have all written music to the poetry of, among others, Ottavio Rinuccini. And Ron Ford's composition Rinuccini connects it with our time.