Chronology

March 8, 1566 Carlo Gesualdo is born in Venosa. His parents are Fabrizio Gesualdo and Geronima Borromeo. 
1584 Carlo’s grandfather, first Prince of Venosa, dies, leaving Fabrizio Gesualdo as heir to the title, with Carlo’s elder brother next in line.
1585 Carlo publishes his first motet, Delicta nostra ne reminiscaris, Domine.
Luigi Gesualdo –Carlo’s elder brother– dies, making Carlo the heir.
Within the year Carlo’s father arranges a betrothal with Donna Maria d’Avalos, daughter of Fabrizio’s sister Donna Sveva, and hence Carlo’s first cousin.
March 1, 1585 Leonardo Primavera dedicates Carlo Gesualdo his Settimo libro di madrigali a cinque voci, in gratitude for his patronage.
1586 Marriage of Carlo Gesualdo and Maria d’Avalos in the church of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples.
October 16, 1590 Carlo murders Maria and Fabrizio Carafa –her lover– after surprising them “in flagrante delicto di fragrante peccato”. After the murder, he retires to his property in the isolated village of Gesualdo to dedicate himself to music.
1593 First mention of Carlo’s artistic merit in Tasso’s composition Gerusalemme conquistata.
March 20, 1593 The marriage contract between Leonora d’Este and Carlo –recently appointed Prince of Venosa– is signed.
December 19, 1593 Composer Emilio de Cavalieri states in a letter: “The Prince of Venosa, who would like to do nothing but sing and play music, today forced me to visit with him and kept me for seven hours.” 
1594 Composer and lutenist Alessandro Piccinini presents Carlo two of his archlutes. 
First news about prince’s melancholy. 
Publication of Madrigali a 5 voci. Libro Primo.
Publication of Madrigali a 5 voci. Libro Secondo.
January 4, 1594 Philip II –king of Spain– sends Carlo a letter congratulating him on the marriage.
February 19, 1594 Carlo arrives in Ferrara in order to wed Leonora.
February 21, 1594 Marriage between Gesualdo and Leonora d’Este, Duke of Ferrara’s niece. Music plays a large part in marriage celebrations, as is customary in Ferrara. He spends two years in Ferrara enjoying his unique cultural life.
May 15, 1594 Gesualdo leaves Ferrara and visits Mesola and Venice before going back to his domains on 14th June. Probably during this period he builds relationships with Gardano, a Venetian printer who will print many of Carlo’s madrigals. In Venice –according to composer, courtier and statesman Alfonso Fontanelli–, he chooses to remain incognito in order to avoid official ceremonies, but continues to discuss music, praising the musicians of Ferrara and scorning those of Venice.
September 10, 1594 Luzzasco Luzzaschi –Italian organist and composer at the Ferrara court– dedicates his fourth madrigal book to Gesualdo.
December, 1594 Return to Ferrara, where Carlo arrives at the end of the year. A storm of snow forces him to stop at Florence on 17th December. He remains at Ferrara during two productive years.
1595 Leonora gives birth to a baby boy, Alfonsino.
March 19, 1595 Publication of Madrigali a 5 voci. Libro Terzo.
1596 Publication of Madrigali a 5 voci. Libro Quarto.
From here on, Gesualdo begins to space his visits to Naples and he spends most of his time on his estate making music. 
Carlo returns to Gesualdo, while his wife stays at Ferrara.
February, 1597 Carlo begins to write to Duke Alfonso II, Leonora’s brother, requesting she joins him in Gesualdo. The Duke tells him to come himself to fetch his wife and son, but Carlo replies that he is in bad health.
October 27, 1597 Duke’s death.
December 8, 1597 Carlo writes to Ferrara in order to inform about Leonora’s  arrival at the Estate of Gesualdo, expressing his happiness. However, she was doomed to suffer his indifference.
1600 A secret political document says about him: «he is opposed to innovation, attends to money-making and does not delight in anything but music».
October, 1600 Death of Carlo and Leonora’s son, Alfonsino. The relationship between Carlo and his wife gets worse, suffering his contempt, rudeness and humiliations.
1601 Scipione Cerreto expresses his admiration for Carlo’s music in his Della prattica Musica, vocale et strumentale.
October 22, 1607 Marriage of Emmanuele, Carlo’s firstborn, to Donna Maria Polissena of Furstenberg. After that, Leonora, without her husband, leaves the estate of Gesualdo and goes to Modena, where she stays until spring of 1608.
1609 Giovanni Balducci ends Il pardono di Gesualdo, a painting in oil on canvas commissioned by Carlo.
November 7, 1609 Carlo sends Leonora back to Modena in hopes that she might recover her health. She returns to Gesualdo on Octobre 1610.
1611 Gesualdo acquires his own palace printer, Giovanni Giacomo Carlino, who prints his latest works.
Publication of Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia.
June 20, 1611 Publication of Madrigali a 5 voci. Libro Quinto.
July 25, 1611 Publication of Madrigali a 5 voci. Libro Sesto.
September 8, 1613 Carlo Gesualdo’s death.
July 15, 1626 Publication of Madrigali a 6 voci. 
1632 Don Ferrante della Marra, in a chronicle, writes about Carlo Gesualdo: «he was assailed and afflicted by a vast horde of demons, which gave him no peace for many days on end, unless ten or twelve young men –who he kept specially for the purpose– were to beat him violently three times a day, during which operation he was wont to smile joyfully».
1635 Philosopher Thomas Campanella relates: «The Prince of Venosa, one of the best musicians of this age, was unable to go to the stool, without having been previously flogged by a valet kept expressly for the purpose».
October 10, 1674 In a letter, the Genoese Michele Giustiniani states: «Don Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, Neapolitan cavalier, most excellent musician as his printed works show, and player of the archlute, took place—a death hastened by a strange illness, which made it soothing for him to be given blows on the temples and other parts of the body by putting over those parts a small bundle of rags”.
1926 Publication of the novel Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa: Musician and Murderer  by Cecil Gray and Philip Heseltine.
1956 First LP devoted to Gesualdo’s music, a recording of Robert Craft on Sunset label.
1957–1967 Publication of Gesualdo’s Sämtliche werke (Complete works), edited by Wilhelm Weismann and Glenn Watkins.
1960 Publication of Monumenta pro Gesualdo, consisting of Stravinsky's orchestrations of Gesualdo's madrigals.
1966–1969 The English sculptor Michael Sandle makes a structure of fibreglass, resin and bronze, which stands 3,65 meters high by 6,70 meters long, entitled Monumentum pro Gesualdo, as Stravinsky’s work.
1967 Publication of Alberto Consiglio’s book Gesualdo, ovvero, assassinio a cinque voci.
1975 Gino Negri’s stage play Diario dell’Assassinata, a story about Maria d’Avalo’s murder, is premiered.
1987 The Parisian artist Kathy Toma begins a series of pieces including painting, video and photographic works inspired by Gesualdo.
1990 The composer Francesco d’Avalos, composes a music drama entitled Maria di Venosa in homage to his ancestor.
1995 Werner Herzog’s film Tod für fünf Stimmen (Death for Five Voices) is released.
May, 1995 The opera Gesualdo, composed by Alfred Schnittke and written by Richard Bletschacher, is conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich at the Vienna State Opera.
1996 The Dresden artist Till Ansgar Baumhauser begins a set of installations concerning different aspects of Gesualdo’s history.
January 14, 1996 Premiere of another Gesualdo opera, composed by Franz Hummel and commissioned by the city of Kaiserslautern (Rhineland–Palatinate, Germany).
1997 Rocco Bracanti’s book and documentary film Bios Athanatos: Tormenti, tenebre, visioni is released.
1999 The composer Salvatore Sciarrino composes a puppet opera entitled Terribile e spaventosa storia del Principe di Venosa e della bella Maria.
2005 Premiere in Amsterdam of the “opera for concert hall” Gesualdo Considered as Murderer, composed by Luca Francesconi, involving video projections, electronics, three solo singers, The Hilliard Ensemble and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble.
2015 Bernardo Bertolucci is currently directing a film about Gesualdo entitled Inferno e Paradiso.