Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo Historical Figure Nationality: Naples Year of Birth: 1566 Year of Death: 1613 Cause of Death: Undetermined Religion: Catholicism Occupation: Composer, nobleman Parents: Fabrizio Gesualdo, Geronima Borromeo Spouse: Donna Maria d'Avalos (d. 1590) Leonora d'Este Children: Emmanuele and Alfonsino, both predeceased him Fictional Appearances: The Wages of Sin POD: 1509 Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference Date of Death: c. 1598 Cause of Death: The Wasting Spouse: Donna Maria d'Avalos (presumed)

Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza (30 March 1566 [disputed] – 8 September 1613) was a Neapolitan composer of madrigals and sacred music, who used a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century. In 1590, he killed his first wife and her aristocratic lover upon finding them in flagrante delicto, and was acquitted of the crime due to technicalities.

Carlo Gesualdo in The Wages of Sin

A few years after murdering his wife and her lover, Carlo Gesualdo came down with the Wasting. He responded to this news by writing Hymn to an Angry God, a terrifying piece written in fury.

In 1851, after a difficult day in his surgery, which included telling Tom Pickering that he had the Wasting, Richard Williams vented his frustrations by playing the Hymn on the harpsichord.