Carlo Gesualdo, prince of Venosa summary

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Carlo Gesualdo, prince of Venosa, (born March 8, 1566, Venosa —died Sept. 8, 1613, Naples), Italian composer. Nobly born, he was a passionate musical dilettante. In 1590 he had his first wife and her lover (a duke) murdered, which earned him great notoriety but no punishment. His later marriage to the duke of Ferrara’s niece made the cosmopolitan Ferrara court his second home. His steadily deepening melancholia was reflected in his music, which included some 125 madrigals and about 75 sacred vocal works. His six books of madrigals were published between 1594 and 1611 in part-books and in 1613 in score. Those in the last two books are unusual for their dramatic exclamations, discontinuous texture, and harmonic license. His extreme chromaticism and abrupt changes in tempo and dynamics, exaggerating such traits in the madrigals of his time, would have no rival until the 20th century.

lute Summary

Lute, in music, any plucked or bowed chordophone whose strings are parallel to its belly, or soundboard, and run along a distinct neck or pole. In this sense, instruments such as the Indian sitar are classified as lutes. The violin and the Indonesian rebab are bowed lutes, and the Japanese samisen

madrigal Summary

Madrigal, form of vocal chamber music that originated in northern Italy during the 14th century, declined and all but disappeared in the 15th, flourished anew in the 16th, and ultimately achieved international status in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The origin of the term madrigal is

Antiphonarium Basiliense, printed by Michael Wenssler in Basel, c. 1488. Marginalia suggests its use as a choir book into the 19th century.

score Summary

Score, notation, in manuscript or printed form, of a musical work, probably so called from the vertical scoring lines that connect successive related staves. A score may contain the single part for a solo work or the many parts that make up an orchestral or ensemble composition. A full, or

music Summary

Music, art concerned with combining vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty of form or emotional expression, usually according to cultural standards of rhythm, melody, and, in most Western music, harmony. Both the simple folk song and the complex electronic composition belong to the same activity,