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Carlo Gesualdo
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(1560 – 1613)
Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo da Venosa (?8 March 1560 – 8 September 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, of his first wife and her lover.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Sacred Music For Five Voices (Oxford Camerata)
Carlo Gesualdo
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GESUALDO: Sacred Music for Five Voices
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Madrigaux a 5 voix (Les Arts Florissants)
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Tenebrae (Hilliard Ensemble - disk 1)
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Top Tracks
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Deus refugium et virtus
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O Crux benedicta
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Tribulationem et dolorem
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Precibus et meritis beatae Mariae
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Tribularer si nescirem
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Ave Dulcissima Maria
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Peccantem me quotidie
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Exaudi Deus deprecationem meam
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Dignare me laudare te
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| 10 |
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O vos omnes
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Domine ne despicias
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Maria mater gratiae
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Illumina faciem tuam
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Ave Regina coelorum
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Laboravi in gemitu meo
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Shoutbox
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expositive wrote:
popeaustin: I have seen it.
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PopeAustin wrote:
anyone seen the herzog movie about him?
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sanktimonius wrote:
sublime music right here!
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Thornspire wrote:
I'm currently reading Glenn Watkin's Gesualdo Biography ... Very recommendable ...
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deadmissbates wrote:
Beautiful and terrifying!
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smcpac wrote:
Mad murderer and tortured musical genius! Definitive performance IMHO is: Gesualdo, Tenebrae. The Hilliard Ensemble: ECM New Series. ECM 1422/23 843 867-2. Beautifully twisted...
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orlando_gibbons wrote:
hi man can you kill my wife too ?
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rogervaz wrote:
hehehehe!
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VargTokernes wrote:
kvlt blackness
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Cacophonaut wrote:
"I hope you read this"? Dude, he died in the seventeenth century.
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B-ah wrote:
I dig your madrigal music... I recently saw Werner Herzog´s Documentary about you.. I hope you read this Lord Gessualdo... Hails from Lofoten
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BigFatLibido wrote:
Bertolucci's next movie, if it ever gets off the ground, will be a Gesualdo biopic.
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gnasdfl wrote:
Hilliard's Tenebrae on ECM: terrible (especially when listened to around Easter) and beautiful and passionate and haunting. What an agony the man must have been in, even though his status pretty much allowed him to murder his wife and her lover, he must have been tormented by that deed all the rest of his life...
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east_west wrote:
haha... in the description my mind saw "murderer of the late Renaissance". i thought, "wow, someone's really passionate about Renaissance music!"
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artofmotion wrote:
Amazing how someone who committed such horrible acts could make such beautiful music.
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TheViper13 wrote:
just splendid, a brilliant composer.
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Luuttuaja wrote:
Bumzur
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Luuttuaja wrote:
Much more kvlt than Bumzur.
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demaupin wrote:
magnificent music.
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Glukoz wrote:
Burzum looks like an emo boy next to Gesualdo.
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Recent Activity
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SirAlecHendrix connected Carlo Gesualdo to the group Exquisite Taste. Thursday evening
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mediaporta, UtopiaThoringi and panvlad added Carlo Gesualdo to their libraries. Sunday evening
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MrLJM wrote about Carlo Gesualdo in Library: Classical music. last week
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JoshCIVM added Carlo Gesualdo to JoshCIVM’s library. last week
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dukon tagged Carlo Gesualdo with composer, choral, classical and one other tag. last week
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Shandianzhan tagged Carlo Gesualdo with lute, flute, european and 5 other tags. 14 days ago
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Gumoleon wrote about Carlo Gesualdo in Milestones. 16 days ago
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Pankoff tagged Carlo Gesualdo with ‘baroque’. 20 days ago
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mattheo1707, GlennGray, bristogiannis and 10 other people added Carlo Gesualdo to their libraries. last month
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Carlo Gesualdo
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John Dowland
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