Death of Gesualdo St Martin in the Fields

"Carlo Gesualdo wrote some of the most darkly sublime music of the late Renaissance. He also savagely murdered his wife and her lover in their bed. Now be honest: which would you like to discuss first? It is a provocation that sets the atmosphere for an evening that resists easy resolution. Presented at St Martin-in-the-Fields as the launch of the church's 300th anniversary celebrations,"

"His music is noted for extreme chromaticism, sudden harmonic shifts and an emotional intensity that sits uneasily alongside the conventions of sixteenth-century polyphony, even as it remains firmly within its mannered framework. His life was no less contradictory. In 1590, he murdered his wife, Maria d'Avalos, and her lover after discovering them together. Protected by his status, he was never tried, remarried, and went on to write some of his most distinctive music."

"The programme allowed the music to remain at the centre. In the resonant yet clear acoustic of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Gesualdo's writing emerged with striking definition. Passages of luminous beauty were repeatedly unsettled by dissonance and unexpected harmonic turns, generating a sense of instability that rarely resolves. The introductory text, O vos omnes, drawn directly from the Tenebrae responsories, is perhaps Gesualdo's most familiar sacred work and one that can sound uncomfortably personal, as though Christ's suffering were being refr"

Carlo Gesualdo combined extreme chromaticism, abrupt harmonic shifts and intense emotional expression within late-Renaissance polyphony, producing music that alternates luminous beauty with destabilizing dissonance. He murdered his wife and her lover in 1590, was protected by his noble status, remarried and continued composing distinctive works. A staged premiere at St Martin-in-the-Fields presented Gesualdo's music centrally, using the church's resonant, clear acoustic to reveal striking definition and persistent instability in his writing. Performances highlighted sacred texts such as O vos omnes alongside unsettling harmonies, prompting measured, reflective engagement with the composer's troubled legacy.

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