Harrison Reed

Io partoe non piu dissi is a Madrigal composed by Carlo Gesualdo (ca.

1561-1613) around the year 1600. Gesualdo published this work himself in
1611. Carlo Gesualdo was Prince of Venosa, Count of Conza, and was an
Italian composer, nobleman and murderer. The text tells a story of two lovers
getting in a fight, but then surprisingly they go onto sleep with each other.
Because the womans distress arouses him (Dead I was, now I am alive
The piece is Written for 5 voices in primarily a homophonic texture. Gesualdo
was way ahead of his time when it came to chromatic and diatonic sounds,
along with the use of consonance and dissonance, not seen again in music
until the 19th century. The first line of text begins with a chromatic ascention
to a half cadence arriving on the text no more, which helps to evoke a
feeling of sorrow. He evokes more grief by using an ascending line that ends
on the text grief with a suspension. The second line also evokes sadness
by using another escending line. Gesualdo uses chromaticism helps to
create distress on text such as I remain in pain and tears. Gesualdo uses
different musical sections to create contrasting emotions. He uses
unconventional cadences to connect the sections together, making the piece
more coherent. Gesualdo is probably most famous murduring Don Fabrizio
Carafa, the Duke of Andri who he found sleeping with his wife, Donna Maria
dAvalos. Carafa (The man who cheated with his wife) was found in his
mistresses dress, stabbed to death with a gunshot wound to the head.