Nationality:
Italian
Born:
Venosa,
March 1566
Died:
Naples,
8 September 1613
Type
of music: Secular vocal
music
Main
works: 6 books of
madrigals
Gesualdo
was born into an aristocratic Neapolitan family. His mother being the
niece of Pope Pius IV and his uncle the Archbishop of Naples. In
1586 he married his cousin Maria D'avalos, daughter of the Marquis of
Pescara. In 1590, Gesualdo caught her with Fabrizio Carafa, her
aristocratic lover and stabbed them both to death. Shortly after
Gesualdo retreated to his country estates to remove himself from
public life, and this is when he dedicated his time to composition.
The
texts in Gesualdo's Madrigals frequently referred to sadness, sorrow
and death. This was perhaps a reflection of his remorse and mental
health at the time.
His
last two books of Madrigals were published in 1611 although he
himself claimed they were written much earlier in the 1590's. They
are significant works due to their experimental nature, as he used
chromatic harmony that would only appear again in the Romantic era.
Gesualdo
was one of the composers to bridge the gap between Renaissance and
Baroque music. His influence lasted even longer as evident in
Stravinksy's 1960 piece 'Monumentum
pro Gesualdo'.
Spotify
link for the Classical Cafe playlist:
https://play.spotify.com/user/1146446707/playlist/722kiKqGuaxYnbQqnjifAr
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