Stlukesguild

I thought I might continue in an exploration of some "early" composers by cross posting an earlier little essay I wrote on Carlo Gesualdo... certainly one of the the most interesting "characters" in the whole of music:

I've been greatly enamored of this disc:



... of the music of Carlo Gesualdo performed by the marvelous Hilliard Ensemble.

I found Gesualdo so fascinating that I sought out several other collections of his music... especially his late motets:







Carlo Gesualdo (March 8, 1566 – September 8, 1613) is a truly fascinating figure within the history of music. Gesualdo was part of an aristocratic family which had acquired the principality of Venosa in 1560. His uncle was Carlo Borromeo, later Saint Charles Borromeo. His mother, Girolama, was the niece of Pope Pius IV. Gesualdo showed little interest in anything other than music
and through his single-minded devotion he rapidly developed as a talented performer upon the lute, guitar, and harpsichord.

In 1586 Gesualdo married his first cousin, Donna Maria d'Avalos, the daughter of the Marquis of Pescara. Two years later she began to have a love affair with Fabrizio Carafa, the Duke of Andria. Donna Maria successfully kept the affair secret from her husband for almost two years, even though it was well-known elsewhere.

On October 16, 1590, at the Palazzo San Severo in Naples, when Gesualdo had allegedly gone away on a hunting trip, the two lovers took insufficient precaution at last (Gesualdo had arranged with his servants to have the locks of his palace copied in wood so that he could gain entrance if it were locked), and he returned to the palace, caught them in flagrante delicto and murdered them both in their conjugal bed. Gesualdo had help from his servants, who may have done most of the killing; however Gesualdo reportedly stabbed Maria repeatedly, shouting, "she's not dead yet!" The Duke of Andria suffered numerous deep sword wounds, as well as by a shot through the head and was dressed in a woman's clothing (specifically, Maria's night dress). His own clothing was later found piled up by the bedside, unbloodied. One suggested explanation for this is that Gesualdo first murdered his wife, and only after this turned his attentions to the Duke, forcing him to don his lover's clothing, most probably to humiliate him. (Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Gesualdo )

Gesualdo had their mutilated bodies left in front of the palace with a single sword running through the pair of lovers for all to see. As a nobleman he was immune to prosecution, but not to revenge, so he fled to his castle at Gesualdo where he would be safe from any of the relatives of either his wife or her lover.

Reports of the murders widely circulated... including versified versions by poets such as Tasso. Rumors also circulated suggesting that Gesualdo had also murdered his infant son (doubting his paternity) and his father-in-law. In spite of all the grisly details and fictitious details, nothing was done to apprehend the murderer.

Gesualdo spent several years in Ferrara, one of the leading centers of progressive musical activity in Italy, especially in the madrigal. It was home to Luzzasco Luzzaschi, one of the most forward-looking composers in the genre. And Gesualdo was continually surrounded by some of the most talented musicians in the whole of Italy.

After marrying for a second time, to Leonora d'Este, the niece of Duke Alfonso II, the composer returned to his estate at Gesualdo in the Kingdom of Naples where he established an environment much like that he enjoyed at Ferrara. At his own expense he hired resident virtuoso musicians and singers to perform his work. His estate became a center of music-making for Gesualdo alone and he rarely left his castle, taking delight in nothing but music.

His second wife eventually left him and her family petitioned for divorce, claiming abusive behavior. Gesualdo continued to focus solely upon his music, and eventually slipped into bouts of depression. Whether this depression was related to the guilt over his multiple murders is difficult to prove, but the evidence is suggestive. "The evidence that Gesualdo was tortured by guilt for the remainder of his life is considerable, and he may have given expression to it in his music. One of the most obvious characteristics of his music is the extravagant text setting of words representing extremes of emotion: "love", "pain", "death", "ecstasy", "agony" and other similar words occur frequently in his madrigal texts, most of which he probably wrote himself. While this type of word-painting is common among madrigalists of the late 16th century, it reached an extreme development in Gesualdo's music." (Wikipedia)

Gesualdo's music was known for its shocking chromatic juxtapositions that push the limits of tonality in a manner that would not be seen again until the 19th century with the works of composers such as Mahler, and not fully realized until the development of atonal music with Schoenberg. Gesualdo's musical output was largely focused upon secular and sacred madrigals, a vocal form employing multiple voices (initially unaccompanied) employed in a polyphonic manner. The form would eventually be absorbed into the cantata and finally replaced by the aria with the development of the opera.

Gesualdo's later madrigals were largely madrigali spirituali or madrigals based upon sacred texts. The particular music performed in this recording is a collection of madrigals built upon the text from the Passion and used for the Tenebrae (a Latin term for "darkness" or "shadows"), a service held before Good Friday and marking the death of Christ. This particular grouping was entitled Tenebrae Responsoria employed particularly sharp dissonance and shocking chromatic juxtapositions, especially in the parts highlighting text passages having to do with Christ's suffering, or the guilt of St. Peter in having betrayed Jesus... and echoing (perhaps) the composer's own deep-seated guilt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVW8GCnr9-I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZAs9LjJAHU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhuZ9GHT9pQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md4HB...eature=related