Carlo Gesualdo

The better part of Italian nobleman and music composer Carlo Gesualdo's life was vexed because he murdered his first wife and her spurious love. Gesualdo killed them both while they were in bed, and then he displayed their corpses in front of his property as an apparent sign. Because he was of noble lineage, Gesualdo was not prosecuted for his crimes and because he feared revenge, Gesualdo went into exile. After taking a new wife and writing modest compositions, Gesualdo moved back to his hometown and lived out the remainder of his life. As music historians look back on Gesualdo's compositions, they can't help but read elements of his personal life into his pieces. A lot of his songs deal with love, death, cheating, killing and bloodshed.