Gesualdo's “Libro primo di Madrigali a cinque voci” was first published in 1594 in part books by Baldini in Ferrara. (However, we know that a "private" printing had existed previously, but no trace of it has survived). The present edition is based on the Ferrara first printing, but also draws on all surviving later sources (as well as those of the texts) for comparison.

In addition to explanations concerning the transmission of the printed edition as well as philological questions, the editor's extensive introduction offers a new perspective on the collection’s stylistic characteristics, refuting the summary classification of former scholars as a youthfully immature work: Marco Della Sciucca rehabilitates the 1st Madrigal Book as an organically constructed and internally coherent opus, which shows an innovative exegesis of its texts and is open to the central achievements of the most experimental madrigalists, first and foremost Luzzasco Luzzaschi. Gesualdo's original harmonic solutions and virtuoso contrapuntal textures never prove to be an end in themselves, but are always committed to the expressive musical realisation of the verses and their diverse nuances; they thus represent a profound exploration of the content and structure of the poetic texts.