Alessandro Stradella

1645-82, discovered in Rome by the Swedish exiled Queen Christina,

who established his fame as musician and composer.

It’s not easy to be over-talented,
especially not as a musician,
which Stradella was, the handsome Alessandro,
who had lovers everywhere
and never got enough of them.
The only problem was,
they oftentimes were married,
and their husbands didn’t like him
to hang on their wives,
so they with some good reason tried to kill him,
just to settle matters with him once for all.
So he was constantly compelled to run away,
was chased away from Venice
by professional and hired killers,
and also from Torino,
to find some security in Genoa
where, nonetheless, he found new lovers
and eventually was killed
by one of their infuriated husbands.
He was only thirty-seven,
after seven operas and seven oratorios
and a lot of other compositions,
the most talented musician of his age,
killed for his extraordinary talents as a lover.