In a recent aside mentioning Gesualdo's second wife, the following
question was raised, I think with tongue in cheeck: "Whatever happened
to the first Mrs. Gesualdo."
 
For those who may not know, Gesualdo murdered the first Mrs. Gesualdo
(Donna Maria D'Avalos).  She had been married twice previously.  She
outlived her first husband--rumor had it she wore him out sexually;
she got a divorce from her second husband.  And after a few years of
marriage to Gesualdo, she took a lover, Fabrizio Carafa.  Gesualdo
pretended to go on a hunting trip, allowing his wife and Fabrizio to
arrange a little liaison of their own, and then with a hired henchmen
surprised the loving pair in flagrente and murdered them both: shot
Fabrizio; stabbed Donna multiple times, especially around the
genitals.
 
Now, in Renaissance Italy having an adulterous wife killed in
flagrente is more a duty than a crime.  But being there to participate
in the bloodshed is something of a no no.  Gesualdo had to leave town.
Wrote his madrigals as a penance, and all this helps explain why those
chord progressions are so weird.
 
Two other things.  The autopsy report indicates that when murdered
Fabrizio was wearing Donna's clothing.  And later in life, Gesualdo
liked to be beaten and whipped--as a matter of fact, he couldn't move
his bowels unless he was whipped.
 
Ah, sunny Italy
 
 
Cedric D. Reverand II
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