The Fifth book of madrigals starts to see much more development towards operatic style writing, with more songs being strung together to form scenas and with the addition of accompaniment on instruments. Some of these songs can be written by incorporating the accompaniment into the parts for those instruments which are resting, some will require more than a quintet. Certainly as we get into the next three books, reduction to a quintet will become increasingly more difficult, if not impossible.

The twelfth madrigal, Che Dar Più Vi Poss'io, is a song about a young man offering his companion his heart (with the implication of other bodily parts) as an expression of love (lust).