Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices
Encyclopedia
Death for Five Voices is a 1995 film by German
director Werner Herzog
filmed for ZDF
television
. The film explores the music of Carlo Gesualdo
and the legends surrounding Gesualdo's personality, his cursed castle, and his murder of his wife and her lover. Between narration and interviews, several of Gesualdo's madrigals are performed. Herzog calls Death for Five Voices "one of the films closest to my heart."
Herzog also interviews workers at the Palazzo San Severo in Naples
, where Gesualdo committed the murders. A gate worker is interviewed, as well as the heir of d'Avalos, who shows Herzog the very bed in which the murders took place. Herzog then visits a nearby chapel which displays the preserved bodies of Maria d'Avalos and her lover.
These scenes are intercut with performances of Gesualdo's madrigal
s, as well as some historical and musical commentary by Gesualdo scholars.
The film contains many scenes which are not documentary in the traditional sense. Herzog says:
For example, the woman claiming to be the ghost of d'Avalos was in fact played by famous Italian actress and singer Milva
. The scene of a museum curator discussing an artifact which perplexed Gesualdo was scripted by Herzog. In fact the artifact shown in the film had puzzled Herzog himself and caused him to lose sleep, and had no connection to Gesualdo. The story of Gesualdo's murder of his son by forcing him to ride on a swing for three days while a choir sang madrigals to him was also invented for the film.
The final scene of a renaissance fair
performer talking with his mother on a cell phone was also staged for the camera. Herzog instructed his brother, standing just off-camera, to call the young man and for the man to act like his mother was asking him to come home. The young man was then instructed to stare seriously into the camera, and this footage was used during the end credits. To elicit the strange stare that the man gives, Herzog instructed him to look very serious, but then played around and made various jokes right next to the camera as soon as he started filming. Herzog used a similar direction for scenes of his earlier Even Dwarfs Started Small
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
director Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
filmed for ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. The film explores the music of Carlo Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....
and the legends surrounding Gesualdo's personality, his cursed castle, and his murder of his wife and her lover. Between narration and interviews, several of Gesualdo's madrigals are performed. Herzog calls Death for Five Voices "one of the films closest to my heart."
Synopsis
The film begins at Gesualdo's castle, where a worker gives a tour. Several people are encountered at the ruined castle, including a man who plays music into the cracks in the walls in order to deal with the demons which haunt the place, and a woman who claims to be the ghost of Donna Maria d'Avalos, Gesualdo's wife whom he murdered. Two cooks discuss and reconstruct an extravagant wedding feast which Gesualdo had ordered. Herzog also visits some workers from a local mental health clinic, who claim that they once treated the woman who claimed to be a ghost, and that they in fact have two patients currently who believe themselves to be Carlo Gesualdo.Herzog also interviews workers at the Palazzo San Severo in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, where Gesualdo committed the murders. A gate worker is interviewed, as well as the heir of d'Avalos, who shows Herzog the very bed in which the murders took place. Herzog then visits a nearby chapel which displays the preserved bodies of Maria d'Avalos and her lover.
These scenes are intercut with performances of Gesualdo's madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s, as well as some historical and musical commentary by Gesualdo scholars.
Production
Much of the film was shot in the town of Gesualdo in and around the site of Carlo Gesualdo's ruined castle.The film contains many scenes which are not documentary in the traditional sense. Herzog says:
"Most of the stories in the film are completely invented and staged, yet they contain the most profound possible truths about Gesualdo. I think of all my 'documentaries', Death for Five Voices is the one that really runs amok, and it is one of the films closest to my heart."
For example, the woman claiming to be the ghost of d'Avalos was in fact played by famous Italian actress and singer Milva
Milva
Maria Ilva Biolcati , known as Milva, is an Italian singer, actress and television personality. She is also known as 'La Rossa', , due to the colour of her hair, and additionally as the 'Panther of Goro', which stems from the Italian press having nicknamed the three most popular Italian female...
. The scene of a museum curator discussing an artifact which perplexed Gesualdo was scripted by Herzog. In fact the artifact shown in the film had puzzled Herzog himself and caused him to lose sleep, and had no connection to Gesualdo. The story of Gesualdo's murder of his son by forcing him to ride on a swing for three days while a choir sang madrigals to him was also invented for the film.
The final scene of a renaissance fair
Renaissance Fair
A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are...
performer talking with his mother on a cell phone was also staged for the camera. Herzog instructed his brother, standing just off-camera, to call the young man and for the man to act like his mother was asking him to come home. The young man was then instructed to stare seriously into the camera, and this footage was used during the end credits. To elicit the strange stare that the man gives, Herzog instructed him to look very serious, but then played around and made various jokes right next to the camera as soon as he started filming. Herzog used a similar direction for scenes of his earlier Even Dwarfs Started Small
Even Dwarfs Started Small
Even Dwarfs Started Small is a 1970 film by German director Werner Herzog.-Plot:A group of dwarfs confined in an institution on a remote island rebel against the guards and director in a display of mayhem...
.