Gesualdo, an Italian prince, avoided secular punishment for his slaying of his wife and her lover in 1590 in a fit of jealous passion, thanks both to his rank and to societal attitudes towards such incidents. He was, however, subject to feelings of anguishing guilt over the incident.

As a wealthy aristocrat, he composed whatever and however he wished. Unlike a composer who might have been a church choir director and had to write music for holy occasions as part of the job, Gesualdo presumably wrote a set of Responsories for Holy Week because he was attracted to the subject. His style was highly chromatic, taking Italian Renaissance polyphony to an extreme level in this regard. One may speculate that he was led to this musical language in an effort to express his deep remorse, although chromaticism flourished in progressive musical circles of the late Renaissance.



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