The singers complained that his notes were not "in the hand" (referring to the Guidonian hand, from the solfeggio system):

http://educationcloset.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Typography-Music-reading
-Guidonian-hand-2.jpghttp://educationcloset.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Typ
ography-Music-reading-Guidonian-hand-2.jpg

But it didn't matter. Gesualdo hired his own singers to perform his music, and published his own music, as he was himself a prince (the prince of Venosa).


He had a very interesting life, but I've talked about him here several times before so for everyone else's benefit I'm avoiding the subject.


Critics of his music have described it as jarring, wild, completely unregulated, but it's far from that. In a lot of ways, his is the logical extension of polyphony taken to the outer limits. I think his contemporaries were beginning to explore the benefits of harmony, while he doggedly maintained an interest in polyphony. But, as a true master composer, he wanted to push boundaries... just a different set of boundaries from the other guys.

So, he focused on introducing chromatacism to his music. If you examine the score, you'll see at least one of the voices has a completely normal melodic line to it... no controversy to it whatsoever. But at the same time, at least one of the other voices will have some chromaticism going on... something outside the norm. I must confess, I'd love to understand better what might have been going on in his mind for the notes he chose.

I've heard that there were one or two other composers who, at the time, were influenced by him, but it's mostly modern composers who found him of particular interest. Schoenburg, in particular, found his music compelling, to the point of visiting the ruins of Castle Gesualdo, if I remember correctly.

(I have long maintained an interest in early music, incidentally... I don't find the classics as interesting as early music, although I probably know more about the classics, heh).

Bah.. not Schoenburg, but Stravinsky. I keep getting those names mixed up in my head.

ax25:

I performed with a madrigal group while I was in college (did a lot of singing back then). We sang a lot of difficult music, and even took the opportunity to sing in some very nice churches in the UK in the Birmingham area.

We practiced some Gesualdo, but the group just couldn't quite manage it well enough for public performance. I had already (privately) practiced a couple of the parts for Morro Lasso, so I was familiar with his sound, but I think some of the other folks in the group couldn't quite wrap their mind around it, despite having performed other chromatic choral work.

To date, I have not had the opportunity to publically perform any of Gesualdo's music, despite having quite an appreciation for it.

vince-q:

I surely could have remained quiet and nobody would have known the difference.
Certainly, people have compared the two often enough.

When you feel up to it sometime, read about Gesualdo's life. Independantly wealthy, wielding moderate power as a lord, considered insane by many, and a peculiar relationship with death describes some of this man nicely.

A long time ago, I recommended some music by Toby Twining Music that had some advanced vocal stylings. At the time, the music was not in print; you couldn't easily acquire a CD-ROM of their work.

It would seem they've embraced the digital age:

http://tobytwiningmusic.com/recordings/

The "Dylan and the Dead" Tour ???

Actually, when I hear "THE DEAD" are touring, I'm expecting Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston.

As part of their Drug The Children tour?

I was riding in a car with an aquaintance and he put on this music that seemed to me uplifting and exhillarating and I'd not only never heard it before, I'd never heard the name of the artist before. Lindsey Stirling. I guess sometimes living under a rock has its drawbacks. She makes me wish I could play violin. She is just so awesome. So I bought an album on itunes and put it on my phone and listen to it all the time now.

Well, one of my Youtube videos earned its first dislike yesterday.

Someone from the UK didn't particularly like my Goofy Ol' Fleeb video. The person didn't leave a comment, though.

For anyone here who hasn't already seen it, it's 12 seconds of just silly stupid video and music I threw together while testing Audacity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhgMHOPtYt8

Hrm... not familiar with Red Eye, but I probably ought to be more embarrassed than I am.

*laughs*

Before that happens, I should try to make a version of the tune that loops well.

My stepmother said of Byrne that he's insane. "Nobody can fake that look," she said of the video he did where someone projected his face onto a pavement while driving around.

Of course, she's the loony.

Nice piece of music, though. I rather liked that.

On another subject, I found myself looking around for some background music I could safely play behind some video I created today, and found some of Google's 'you can safely play this stuff' music to be pretty decent.

It won't win awards, but it won't make you curl up into the fetal position and pray for civilization to end.