Cambridge Villages Tour

Spotlight on Carlo Gesualdo

The writing of notorious composer, Carlo Gesualdo is well known for its extreme style, with
chromatic melodies creating dissonant and disjointed harmonic progressions that illuminate
the most melancholy aspects of the dark texts he set. Alongside a selection of Gesualdo’s
atmospheric sacred music, focused on the darkness and shadows of Holy Week’s Tenebrae
services, The Gesualdo Six present four of his final madrigals, published in 1611.

“The whole programme moved forward by alternating between homophonic and polyphonic textures; between relative simplicity and complexity; between relaxation and tension… the effect was mesmerising.” - Limelight

PROGRAMME

Gesualdo sacred works:
In te Domine speravi
Peccantem me quotidie
Tenebrae Responsories
i. Tristis est anima mea
ii. Tenebrae factae sunt
iii. O vos omnes

Gesualdo secular madrigals, Books 5 & 6 1611:
O tenebroso giorno
Asciugate i begli occhi
Ancide sol la morte
Moro, lasso, al mio duolo