The Curse of Gesualdo: Music, Murder and Madness (Paperback) by Joel Epstein

Carlo Gesualdo, Renaissance ruler and composer, achieved fame and infamy, both for the remarkable, gut-wrenching music that he wrote, and for the violent and tragic life that he led. Gesualdo murdered his wife and his best friend because he believed they were having an affair; he was then so consumed by guilt that he had a servant whip him nightly until his death. He was bewitched by a woman whose spell made him impotent with any woman but herself. "I own him from the waist down", she said at her trial. "His wife shall have nothing but kisses."This fictionalized account brings life to the twisted, obsessive genius, and to the people who surrounded him, people who loved and hated him, who were drawn to the fire of his passion yet repelled by his callous and repulsive nature.