Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo was born into the nobility in 1566. He became Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza after his father died in 1591. His uncle was Carlo Borromeo, the Saint, and through his mother he was related to Pope Pius IV. Gesualdo, too, was destined for a career in the Church but when his elder brother died and Carlo became the presumptive heir, he was no longer the second son that enters the Church!

As a member of the ruling class Gesualdo was not supposed to become absorbed in activities other than hunting, carousing, fighting and telling people what to do. But after he got rid of his first unfaithful wife in 1590 he became more and more involved with music. He spent three years visiting the Court of Ferrara where music flourished under the leadership of Luzzasco Luzzaschi, and picked up a second wife, Eleanora, niece of Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara. (Despite his earlier marital difficulties).

Gesualdo ‘Madrigali libro primo’ was published in Ferrara in 1594 under a pseudonym. His ‘Madrigali libro quarto’ in 1596 marked his retirement to his Castle at Gesualdo, Avellino, and devoting his life to music. He died at the Castle in 1613 and is buried at the Church of Gesù Nuovo in Naples, leaving a substantial legacy of motets and madrigals of unmatched originality. The spectacular murder in 1590 of his first wife and her lover (for which he was acquitted) often overshadows the mastery of his unorthodox and extravagant stylistic traits. His harmonic idiom is not only unique but musically thoroughly fulfilling. The contour of his melodies is equally remarkable and demanding of the singer leaving no doubt about the skill of the performer of that time . . . not to mention the singers of Concentus Musicus MN.