Author Description
Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, is equally celebrated as the composer of madrigals of great power and tortured complexity and as the murderer of his wife and her lover in flagrante delicto. His life and compositions are not unconnected. His neurotic sensibility found an ideal outlet in the mannerist tendencies of late Renaissance music, and his works are the most extreme examples of those tendencies. Watkins's extended study of Gesualdo's life and works was originally published in 1973. Alongside detailed analysis of Gesualdo's remarkable madrigals and of the few works in other genres, it contained much new biographical material, particularly on the latter part of the composer's life. This new edition has been extensively updated, and contains a new chapter covering the research of recent years. The preface to the first edition, by Igor Stravinsky is reprinted.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This study investigates the intersection between the volatile life of Carlo Gesualdo and the extreme harmonic innovations found within his musical compositions. Glenn Watkins, a scholar of Renaissance music, utilizes historical records and musicological analysis to argue that Gesualdo's personal neuroses and notorious biography directly informed the mannerist complexities of his madrigals. The text synthesizes biographical narrative with technical musical critique to provide a comprehensive portrait of the Prince of Venosa.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Biographical examination of Carlo Gesualdo's life, including the murder of his wife and her lover
- Technical analysis of late Renaissance madrigals and their mannerist tendencies
- Updated research chapters reflecting scholarship published since the 1973 original edition
- A reprinted preface by composer Igor Stravinsky
Scope Limits
- The text focuses primarily on Gesualdo's madrigals, with limited discussion of his works in other musical genres
- The analysis does not attempt to provide a general history of the Italian Renaissance beyond the context of Gesualdo's immediate environment
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Experts recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the relationship between Gesualdo's biography and his musical output. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which balances historical narrative with detailed musicological theory.
Page Count:
414
Publication Date:
1991-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0193152215
ISBN-13:
9780193152212
Non-Fiction
Biography
Music History