Carlo Gesualdo

Composer, Composer/Author

1566 — 1613
Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (c. 8 March 1566 – 8 September 1613) was Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza. As a composer he is known for writing madrigals and pieces of sacred music that use a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century. He is also known for killing his first wife and her aristocratic lover upon finding them in flagrante delicto. The responses to this and to his music have often gone hand in hand.