NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo da Venosa (?March 8, 1560 – September 8, 1613), Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian composer, lutenist, nobleman, and notorious murderer of the late Renaissance. He is famous for his intensely expressive madrigals, which use a chromatic language not heard again until the 19th century; and he is also famous for committing what are possibly the most famous murders in musical history. Don Carlo Gesualdo; from French wiki I believe this was scanned from the 1926 book by C. Gray and P. Heseltine (see refs on Carlo Gesualdo) and is therefore public domain; needs to be checked though. ... Don Carlo Gesualdo; from French wiki I believe this was scanned from the 1926 book by C. Gray and P. Heseltine (see refs on Carlo Gesualdo) and is therefore public domain; needs to be checked though. ... March 8 is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (68th in Leap years). ... Events February 27 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland The first tulip bulb was brought from Turkey to the Netherlands. ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... Events January - Galileo observes Neptune, but mistakes it for a star and so is not credited with its discovery. ... Venosa is a town in the Potenza in the Basilicata region in southern Italy, with a population of around 12,500. ... Compsa (modern Conza) is an ancient city of the Hirpini, near the sources of the Aufidus, on the boundary of Lucania an not far from that of Apulia, on a ridge 1,998 ft. ... The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ... Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... A madrigal is a setting for 3â€“6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. ... In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Biography

Gesualdo was part of an aristocratic family which acquired the principality of Venosa in 1560. His uncle was Carlo Borromeo, later Saint Charles Borromeo. In addition, Gesualdo's mother, Girolama, was the niece of Pope Pius IV. Aristocracy is a form of government in which rulership is in the hands of an upper class known as aristocrats. ... Carlo Borromeo (October 2, 1538 - November 4, 1584), saint and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, son of Ghiberto Borromeo, count of Arona, and Margarita de Medici, was born at the castle of Arona on Lago Maggiore. ... Carlo Borromeo (October 2, 1538 - November 4, 1584), saint and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, son of Ghiberto Borromeo, count of Arona, and Margarita de Medici, was born at the castle of Arona on Lago Maggiore. ... Pius IV, nÃ© Giovanni Angelo Medici (March 31, 1499 â€“ December 9, 1565), pope from 1559 to 1565, was born of humble parentage in Milan, unrelated with the Medicis of Florence. ...

Most likely he was born at Venosa, but little else is known about his early life; even his birthdate — 1560 or 1561, or 1566 — is a matter of some dispute, though a recently discovered letter from his mother indicates he was probably born in 1566. Gesualdo had a musical relationship with Pomponio Nenna, though whether it was student to teacher, or colleague to colleague, is uncertain. At any rate, he had a single-minded devotion to music from an early age, and showed little interest in anything else. In addition to the lute, he also played the harpsichord and guitar.^[1] Pomponio Nenna (1550-1555 – before October 22, 1613) was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. ... Harpsichord in Flemish style; for more info, click the image. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The murders

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; evidently she was able to keep it secret from her husband for almost two years, even though the existence of the affair was well-known elsewhere. Finally, 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 for the doors to be left unlocked), and he returned to the palace, caught them in flagrante delicto and brutally murdered them both in their bed; afterwards he left their mutilated bodies in front of the palace for all to see. (Maria was "viciously stabbed in the parts which it is best for a woman to keep modest," read a contemporary account.) Being 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. 1586 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... Marquis has many different meanings: The French spelling of the title known in English as Marquess and Margrave. ... Pescaras port in the afterglow. ... Andrea is a personal name common in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. ... October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years). ... Bold text{| align=right cellpadding=3 id=toc style=margin-left: 15px; |- | align=center colspan=2 | Years: 1587 1588 1589 - 1590 - 1591 1592 1593 |-vdsf gno[gldw[pvkijxaiamknn csogfhbvdowkhbfkqhjkhrjkhwgfhbjkpnkfokfgok3pkpk9pjhkt9erktyujkip9kijker9thhrkg9hkitr9gtkih9t0ykltk[u0jo0iey9uhyit90ertyhige9rity9riyh9ujirtyuhjnh-4e9tyigh9thiuy0h8tyh34tu8uy8u8u8u8rtu5y8ru8thu0tru0ut0rhutuh0trhu0hseogtrhr8uyhju8t89er9te9r8fy8shit ass dick bitch fuck | align=center colspan=2 | Decades: 1560s 1570s 1580s - 1590s - 1600s 1610s 1620s |- | align=center | Centuries... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Revenge or vengeance consists primarily of retaliation against a person or group in response to a perceived wrongdoing. ... Gesualdo is an Italian commune in the region of Campania, province of Avellino, with about 3,800 inhabitants. ...

Details on the murders are not lacking, because the depositions of witnesses to the magistrates have survived in full. While they disagree on some details, they agree on the principal points, and it is apparent that Gesualdo had help from his servants, who may have done most of the killing; however Gesualdo certainly stabbed Maria multiple times, shouting as he did, "she's not dead yet!" The Duke of Andria was found slaughtered by numerous deep sword wounds, as well as by a shot through the head; when he was found, he was dressed in women's clothing (specifically, Maria's night dress). His own clothing was found piled up by the bedside, unbloodied. One suggested explanation for this is that Gesualdo first murdered his wife, and after this turned his attentions to the Duke, forcing him to don his lover's clothing, most probably to humiliate him.

The murders were widely publicized, including in verse by poets such as Tasso and an entire flock of Neapolitan poets, eager to capitalize on the sensation; the salacious details of the murders were broadcast in print; but nothing was done to apprehend the Prince of Venosa. The police report ^[2] from the scene makes for shocking reading even after more than 400 years. Torquato Tasso (March 11, 1544 â€“ April 25, 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered; 1575), in which he describes the imaginary combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem. ...

Accounts on events after the murders differ. According to some contemporary sources, Gesualdo also murdered his second son by Maria, who was an infant, after looking into his eyes and doubting his paternity (according to contemporary sources he "swung the infant around in his cradle until the breath left his body"); another source indicates that he murdered his father-in-law as well, after the man had come seeking revenge. Gesualdo had employed a company of men-at-arms to ward off just such an event. However, contemporary documentation from official sources for either of these alleged murders is lacking.

Ferrara years

In 1594 Gesualdo went to Ferrara, one of the centers of progressive musical activity in Italy — especially the madrigal — and which was home to Luzzasco Luzzaschi, one of the most forward-looking composers in the genre. There he also arranged for another marriage, this time to Leonora d'Este, the niece of Duke Alfonso II. What she thought at the time about marrying a manic-depressive, music-obsessed murderer is not known, though she married Gesualdo and moved with him back to his estate in 1597; in the meantime he enjoyed more than two years of creative activity in the avant-garde atmosphere of Ferrara, surrounded by some of the finest musicians in Italy. While in Ferrara, he published his first books of madrigals. Also when he was in Ferrara he worked with the concerto delle donne, the three virtuoso female singers who were among the most renowned performers in Italy, and for whom many other composers wrote music. Ferrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, capital city of the province of Ferrara. ... Luzzasco Luzzaschi (c. ... Alfonso II dEste. ... Manic depression, with its two principal sub-types, bipolar disorder and major depression, was first clinically described near the end of the 19th century by psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, who published his account of the disease in his Textbook of Psychiatry. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... The concerto delle donne ( consort of ladies) was a group of professional female singers in the late Renaissance court of Ferrara, Italy, renowned for their technical and artistic virtuosity. ...

In a letter of June 25, 1594, Gesualdo indicated he was writing music for the three women in the concerto delle donne; however, it is probable that some of the music he wrote, for example that in the newly developing monodic and/or concertato styles, has not survived. ^[3] The concerto delle donne ( consort of ladies) was a group of professional female singers in the late Renaissance court of Ferrara, Italy, renowned for their technical and artistic virtuosity. ... Caccini, Le Nuove musiche, 1601, title page In poetry, monody is a poem in which one person laments anothers death. ... Concertato (sometimes called stile concertato) is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a genre or a style of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo. ...

Return to Gesualdo, and final years

After returning to his castle at Gesualdo from Ferrara in 1595, he attempted to set up a similar situation to that which existed in Ferrara, with a group of resident, virtuoso musicans who would sing his own music. While his estate became a center of music-making, it was for Gesualdo alone; with his considerable financial resources, he was able to hire singers and instrumentalists for his own pleasure, but he was a solitary man by nature and his estate never became a cultural center the way the Este estate at Ferrara did. From about 1599 until his death in 1613, he hardly ever left his castle, and music seems to have been his only passion. Most of his famous music was published in Naples in 1603 and 1611, and the most notoriously chromatic and difficult portion of it was all written during his period of isolation. Ercole I dEste was one of the most important patrons of arts in the Italian Renaissance. ... The Bay of Naples Naples (Italian: , Neapolitan: NÃ pule, from Greek ÎÎµÎ¬Ï€Î¿Î»Î· < ÎÎÎ± Î ÏŒÎ»Î¹Ï‚ NÃ©a PÃ³lis New City) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. ...

The relationship between Gesualdo and his new wife was not good; she accused him of abuse, and the Este family tried to get her a divorce. She spent more and more time away from Gesualdo's isolated estate, and he wrote many angry letters to Modena where she often went to stay with her brother. According to Cecil Gray, "She seems to have been a very virtuous lady ... for there is no record of his having killed her." ^[4] Modena (MÃ²dna in Modenese dialect) is a city and a province on the south side of the Po valley, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. ...

In 1600 his son by his second marriage died. It was after this that Gesualdo had a large painting commissioned for the church of the Capuchins at Gesualdo, which shows Gesualdo, his uncle Carlo Borromeo, his second wife Leonora, and his dead son, underneath a group of angelic figures. The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap) is an order of friars in the Roman Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. ...

Late in life he suffered from depression; whether or not it was related to the guilt over his multiple murders is difficult to prove, but the evidence is suggestive. According to Campanella, writing in Lyon in 1635, he had himself beaten daily by his servants; and he kept a special servant whose duty it was to beat him "at stool"^[2]; and he engaged in a relentless, and fruitless, correspondence with Cardinal Borromeo to obtain relics, i.e. skeletal remains, of his uncle Carlo, with which he hoped to obtain healing for his mental disorder, and possibly absolution for his crimes. His late setting of Psalm 51, the Miserere, is distinguished by its insistent and imploring musical repetitions, alternating lines of monophonic chant with pungently chromatic polyphony in a low vocal tessitura. Depression, or a depressed mood, may in everyday English refer to a state of melancholia, unhappiness or sadness, or to a relatively minor downturn in mood that may last only a few hours or days. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: (Arpitan: Forward, forward, Lyon the best) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region RhÃ´ne-Alpes Department RhÃ´ne (69) Subdivisions 9 arrondissements Intercommunality Urban Community of Lyon Mayor GÃ©rard Collomb (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Miserere (the imperative of Latin misereri, to have mercy or pity), the name of one of the Penitential Psalms (Psalm 51), from its opening words, Miserere mei, Deus. ...

Gesualdo died in isolation, at his castle Gesualdo in Avellino, three weeks after the death of his son Emanuele, his first son by his marriage to Maria. One 20th century biographer has suggested he may have been murdered by his wife. ^[4] He was buried in the chapel of Saint Ignatius, in the church of the Gesù Nuovo, in Naples. The sepulchre was destroyed in the earthquake of 1688; when the church was rebuilt, the tomb was covered over, now under the pavement of the church. The burial plaque, however, remains. Avellino is a town and comune, capital of the Avellino Province, and located in the Campania region of southern Italy. ...

Music and style

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. Word painting, also known as; Tone Painting or Text Painting is the musical technique of having the music mimic the literal meaning of the words of a song. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

While he was famous for his murders, he also remains famous for his music, which is among the most experimental and expressive of the Renaissance, and without question is the most wildly chromatic; progressions such as those written by Gesualdo did not appear again in music until the 19th century, and then in a context of tonality that prevents them from being directly comparable. Tonality is a system of writing music according to certain hierarchical pitch relationships around a key center or tonic. ...

Gesualdo's published music falls into three categories: sacred vocal music, secular vocal music, and instrumental music. His most famous compositions are his six published books of madrigals (between 1594 and 1611), as well as his Tenebrae Responsories, which are very much like madrigals, except that they use texts from the Passion. In addition to the works which he published, he left a large quantity of music in manuscript; this contains some of his richest experiments in chromaticism, as well as compositions in such contemporary avant-garde forms as monody. Some of these were products of the years he spent in Ferrara, and some were specifically written for the virtuoso singers there, the three women of the concerto di donne. The Passion is the theological term used for the suffering, both physical and mental, of Jesus in the hours prior to and including his trial and execution by crucifixion. ... Caccini, Le Nuove musiche, 1601, title page In poetry, monody is a poem in which one person laments anothers death. ... The Concerto delle donne ( consort of ladies) was a group of professional women singers established by Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara in 1580 and active until the court was dissolved in 1597. ...

The first books of madrigals that Gesualdo published are close in style to the work of other contemporary madrigalists. Experiments with harmonic progression, cross-relation and violent rhythmic contrast increase in the later books, with Books Five and Six containing the most famous and extreme examples (for instance, the madrigals "Moro, lasso, al mio duolo" and "Beltà, poi che t'assenti", both of which are in Book Six, published in 1611). There is evidence that Gesualdo had these works in score form, in order to better display his contrapuntal inventions to other musicians, and also that Gesualdo intended his works to be sung by equal voices, as opposed to the concerted madrigal style popular in the period, which involved doubling and replacing voices with instruments.^[1] Harmony is the result of polyphony (more than one note being played simultaneously). ... A false relation (also called cross-relation or English dissonance) is a harmonic effect in Western tonal music, in which a note (usually the third degree of the scale) precedes the same note flattened by a semitone in a different part in the following chord. ... Concerted madrigal is a madrigal music style in which any number of voices combine with instruments, whether just basso continuo or basso continuo and others. ...

Characteristic of the Gesualdo style is a sectional format in which relatively slow-tempo passages of wild, occasionally shocking chromaticism alternate with quick-tempo diatonic passages. The text is closely wedded to the music, with individual words being given maximum attention. Some of the chromatic passages include all twelve notes of the chromatic scale within a single phrase, although scattered throughout different voices. Gesualdo was particularly fond of chromatic third relations, for instance juxtaposing the chords of A major and F major, or even C-sharp major and A minor (as he does at the beginning of "Moro, lasso" [1]). In Music theory, the diatonic major scale (also known as the Guido scale), from the Greek diatonikos or to stretch out, is a fundamental building block of the European-influenced musical tradition. ... A major is a major scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, Câ™¯, D, E, Fâ™¯, Gâ™¯, and A. Its key signature consists of three sharps. ... F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B-flat, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature consists of one flat. ... C# major is a major scale based on C#, consisting of the pitches C#, D#, E#, F#, G#, A#, B# (enharmonic to C natural) and C#. Its key signature consists of seven sharps. ... A minor (abbreviated Am) is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, G and A (natural minor scale - the harmonic minor scale contains a Gâ™¯ instead of a G natural). ...

His most famous sacred composition is the set of Tenebrae Responsories, published in 1611, which are stylistically madrigali spirituali — madrigals on sacred texts. As in the later books of madrigals, he uses 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. Events June 23 - Henry Hudsons crew maroons him, his son and 7 others in a boat November 1 - At Whitehall Palace in London, William Shakespeares romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time. ... A madrigale spirituale (Italian; pl. ... In music, a consonance (Latin consonare, sounding together) is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance, which is considered unstable. ... According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside-down, as shown in this painting by Caravaggio. ... Jesus (8â€“2 BC/BCE to 29â€“36 AD/CE),[1] also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity. ...

Influence and reputation

Gesualdo had little influence at the time, although a few composers such as Sigismondo d'India and Antonio Cifra wrote a handful of works in imitation of his madrigalian style; it was only in the 20th century that he was rediscovered. The life of Gesualdo provided inspiration for numerous works of fiction and music drama, including a novel by Anatole France. In addition, 20th century composers responded to his music with tributes of their own; Alfred Schnittke wrote an opera in 1995 based on his life, and Igor Stravinsky arranged Gesualdo's madrigal "Beltà, poi che t'assenti" as part of his Monumentum pro Gesualdo (1960). Sigismondo dIndia (c. ... Antonio Cifra (1584–October 2, 1629) was an Italian composer of the Roman School of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Anatole France (April 16, 1844 â€“ October 12, 1924) was the pen name of French author Jacques Anatole FranÃ§ois Thibault. ... Alfred Garyevich Schnittke (Russian: ÐÐ»ÑŒÑ„Ñ€ÐµÌÐ´ Ð“Ð°ÌÑ€Ñ€Ð¸ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¨Ð½Ð¸ÌÑ‚ÐºÐµ, November 24, 1934 â€“ August 3, 1998) was a Russian-German Jewish composer. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Russian: Ð˜Ð³Ð¾Ñ€ÑŒ Ð¤Ñ‘Ð´Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¡Ñ‚Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð½ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹, Igor FÃ«doroviÄ Stravinskij) (June 17, 1882 â€“ April 6, 1971) was a Russian composer best known for three compositions from his earlier, Russian period: LOiseau de feu (The Firebird) (1910), Petrushka (1911), and Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1913). ...

While other composers at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century wrote experimental music, Gesualdo's creation was unique and isolated, without heirs or followers, a fascinating dead-end in musical history, and an analogue to his personal isolation as an heirless prince, ruined by guilt. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...

Media

Gesualdo-moro lasso al mio duolo. ... Software development stages In computer programming, development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ...

References and further reading

Gustave Reese (November 29, 1899 – September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. ...

Notes

Recordings

A self portrait by Nicholas Hilliard The Hilliard Ensemble is a British male vocal quartet devoted to the authentic performance of early music. ... Les Arts Florissants is a Baroque ensemble of singers and musicians founded in 1979 by William Christie and based in France. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ...

External links

Categories: 1566 births | 1613 deaths | Natives of Basilicata | Renaissance composers | Italian composers | Italian murderers Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... The Werner Icking Music Archive, often abbreviated WIMA, is a web archive of public domain sheet music. ... The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) is a sheet music archive which focuses on choral and vocal music in the public domain. ...

Contents

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