Not just a musician, Carlo Gesualdo (pictured) was a nobleman as well as a murderer. He married his cousin when he was in his early twenties, and that ‘love match’ only lasted two years before his wife began having an affair. She managed to keep it secret for two years, but Gesualdo soon began to suspect the truth. He set a trap where he pretended to leave only to return unannounced, find his wife and her lover in his bed, and promptly murder them in a wave of insanity. There were surprisingly little repercussions from this terrible crime, although Gesualdo did hide in the country for a short of time due to unhappy relatives. He entered into another unhappy marriage four years later, and his new wife spent most of the time on her brother’s estate.(Bianconi) Gesualdo, in short, had an extremely rough home life for his entire career, and it is reflected in his music, which is moody and perhaps even bi-polar.
I listened to the CD, Gesualdo: Fifth book of madrigals, and all the pieces reflect the tension and conflict that he felt. Since Gesualdo was an enigma of contrasts, I will highlight two of his works from this CD: "Languisce al fin," an extremely sad piece, and "Correte, amanti, a prova," a more upbeat one. Gesualdo is a master of using dissonance and chromatisicm in his music, and it is clear that he writes music to reflect the inner turmoil that he lives with.
"Languisce al fin" speaks of languishing toward the end of life, and suffering. This piece is typical of Gesualdo in that it is highly chromatic and uses lamenting to help emphasize the drama that he is feeling and wanting to convey. He uses imitative elements to help text paint, and he uses a beautiful exploration of space to help him in his efforts. The chromaticism used is revolutionary, and not seen again in such abundance until tonalities are set.
"Correte, amanti, a prova" is extremely upbeat for Gesualdo. The tempo is faster and the subject of love and beauty far more lighthearted. Gesualdo uses text painting to the extreme in this piece. The tempo is moving right along until we get to the words, "Vista dolce et acerba in cui si trova," which means, "sight both sweet and bitter which has such might." When he gets to that piece of text, Gesulado slows down to emphasize the sweet and bitter feel that the words suggest. When the text gets to ‘as it may befall’, Gesualdo uses a series of falling vocal lines. It is very interesting to me what Gesualdo decides to do with his text painting. Despite this piece being more upbeat, there is still an underlying melancholy that seems to be in all of Gesualdo’s music. It is as though he can never escape from the world that he lives in entirely.
Gesualdo suffered from depression toward the end of his life most likely caused by the guilt from the double murder.(Watkins) Gesualdo was an incredibly religious man and had himself beaten for penance daily. His life was tortured and dramatic and I think that that comes through in his music. His use of dissonance and chromaticism was unmatched for decades and I don’t think that any musician has reached his level of crazy. He was buried in the chapel of Saint Ignatius. (Pictured)
Bibliography:
Bianconi, Lorenzo. "Gesualdo, Carlo, Prince of Venosa, Count of Conza." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.mnl.umkc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/10994 (accessed November 3, 2009).
Stevens, Denis. “Carlo Gesualdo.” The Musical Times, vol 131, no. 1770 (Aug., 1990): 410-411, Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Watkins, Glenn. Gesualdo: The Man and His Music. Clarendon Press. Oxford, 1991.
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