Monday 16 July 2012 8:00 pm
Don Carlo Gesualdo
Gesualdo: Madrigals from the 4 th, 5 th, and 6th Book of Madrigals
His mother and uncle, Charles Borromeo – later Saint Charles Borromeo, had high hopes for him. They even intended for him to join the church. But then his older brother died and Don Carlo Gesualdo became Prince of Venosa. He was forced to marry, an instance which was the beginning of his tragic life. He murdered his first wife and her lover in a Vendetta against them. His second wife, a descendant of Lucrezia Borgia and her third husband, Alfonso I d’Este, suffered under Carlo’s affectations and his affair with a servant woman, who was exposed as a South Italian witch. Despite the darkness which dominated Don Carlo Gesualdo’s life, he was one of the most brilliant madrigal composers around 1600.
