from Glenn Watkins, Gesualdo, The Man and His Music (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1973.), 44-46.

         I met the Prince at the ferry.  On leaving the boast he decided to get into a carriage since he wanted to escape the mud so as not to have to change his clothes.  He has it in mind to beseech Your Highness most warmly that tomorrow evening you will permit him to see Signora Donna Leonora [Gesualdo’s bride].  In this he shows himself extremely Neapolitan.  He thinks of arriving at eleven P.M., but I doubt this because he does not stir from his bed until extremely late.  With respect to this I shall not send another courier.  Suffice it to say that we will come by boat as far as Gaibana, and then we shall go in the direction of the road Orazio reports to be good for this purpose.
         The Prince, although at first view he does not have the presence of the personage he is, becomes little by little more agreeable, and for my part I am sufficiently satisfied with his appearance.  I have not been able to see his figure since he wears an overcoat as long as a nightgown; but I think that tomorrow he will be more gaily dressed.  He talks a great deal and gives no sign, except in his portrait, of being a melancholy man.  He discourses on hunting and music and declares himself an authority on both of them.  On hunting he did not enlarge very much since he did not find much reaction from me, but about music he spoke at such length that I have not heard so much in a whole year.  He makes open profession of it and shows his works in score to everybody in order to induce them to marvel at his art.  He has with him two sets of music books in five parts, all his own work, but he says that he only has four people who can sing for which reason he will be forced to take the fifth part himself, although it seems that he is confident that Rinaldo will enter into the singing and do well.
         He says that he has abandoned his first style and has set himself to the imitation of Luzzasco [i.e., Luzzasco Luzzaschi (d. 1607), eminent Ferarese musician], a man whom he greatly admires and praises, although he says that not all of Luzzasco’s madrigals are equally well written, as he claims to wish to point out to Luzzasco himself.  This evening after supper he sent for a harpsichord so that he could play on it himself along with the guitar, of which he has a very high regard.  But in all Argenta we could not find a harpsichord, for which reason, so as not to pass an evening without music, he played the lute for an hour and a half.  Here perhaps Your Highness would not be displeased if I were to give my opinion, but I would prefer, with your leave, to suspend my judgment until more refined ears have given theirs.  It is obvious that his art is infinite, but it is full of attitudes, and moves in an extraordinary way.  However, everything is a matter of taste.  This Prince then has himself served in a very grand way and with some little Spanish ceremonies, for example, having the lighted torch brought in before the cup, covering his plate while he drinks, and similar things.