“Kill that scoundrel along with this Harlot! Shall a Gesualdo be made a cuckold?” This was more than hyperbole from Carlo Gesualdo the Prince of Venosa.

He exited the bedchamber covered in blood and gore only to return and stab his wife’s corpse 28 more times proclaiming, “She might not be dead yet.”

The "scoundrel" was the Duke of Andria. When his body was “discovered” it was dressed in a woman’s gown and had several deep sword wounds along with a shot through the head.

The evidence seems to point to Gesualdo forcing the duke to don the gown of his murdered lover before being shot through the head.

After the bodies were found, Gesualdo mutilated them, stripped them naked and put them on display in front of his palace. There is a story that a necrophiliac monk satisfied himself with the corpse of Gesualdo's wife.

This not the synopsis of an Italian opera, it is the sworn testimony of eyewitnesses. However, as prince, Carlo Gesualdo was impervious to legal prosecution.

Gesualdo spent the last 16 years of his life secluded in his castle. There are two versions of his death.

The first version is that he died of asthma. Boring.

The second version is that he died of torture. Not boring.

Gesualdo maintained a staff of 20 servants whose job it was to beat and whip him. The masochism is not disputed but generally accepted.

The story is that his wounds became infected and he died.

Why am I bringing all this up? Carlo Gesualdo was a genius who wrote the most fascinating music of the entire Italian Renaissance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2AFBL6Yi6Q