About Me
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.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.The murdersIn 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.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.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 yearsIn 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.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.Return to Gesualdo, and final yearsAfter 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 musicians 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.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."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.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"; 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.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.
