Counterpoint and Modality in Gesualdo’s Late Madrigals

Was Gesualdo a ‘modern’ composer, or a ‘conservative’ one? Does Gesualdo’s chromaticism transgress the generally accepted rules, or result ‘simply’ from a wide(r) interpretation of those very rules? Although many answers have been given to these questions, they remain still open, because they cannot be answered uniquely on the basis of counterpoint considerations: an appropriate model of ‘tonal space’ is also needed. The essay examines therefore the tonal organization of Gesualdo’s last two books of madrigals – modally ordered, published under his control, and thus confirming the relevance of modality in analysing his music also from a Powersian perspective – in the light of the concept of ‘different resistance of different tonal types to modal representation’ the authors have developed in the last years. In doing this, it also explores the ways Gesualdo avoids to finalise the cadential processes, and the relationships between counterpoint and chromaticism in Gesualdo’s madrigal language.