Intro

Claudio Monteverdi was an Italian composer that was baptized on May 15, 1567 and died

November 29, 1643 in Venice. Monteverdi was the son of a barber-surgeon and chemist,

studied with the director of music at Cremona cathedral, Marcantonio Ingegneri, a well-

known musician who wrote church music and madrigals of some distinction in an up-to-date

though not revolutionary style of the 1570s. In his teens, Monteverdi published many books

of competent works of sacred and secular styles.

Thesis: Monteverdi paved the way for madrigals with eight books, was one of the most

important developers of the new genre of opera and introduced modern secular feeling into

church music.

Points of Interest:

Madrigal Music

(1) 8 Madrigals for 5 Voice

(i) Book 5 - Il quinto libro de madrigali a cinque voci (1605)(ii) Book 8 - Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi con alcuni opuscoli in genere    

rappresentativo, che saranno per brevi episodi fra i canti senza gesto (1638)

2) Opera - Though around eighteen operas were created by Monteverdi but only ‘L'Orfeo’, ‘Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria’, ‘L'incoronazione di Poppea’, and the famous aria, ‘Lamento’, from his second opera ‘L'Arianna’ have continued to exist.

(1) L'Orfeo

(i) Monteverdi’s maiden opera was ‘L'Orfeo’ and was premiered in 1607 in Mantua. To be more specific, L'Orfeo was not his first opera, but the first full-fledged opera that received the designation of becoming a mature or well-established opera. In those days it was a trend for composers to compose music on demand for special events and this piece of music

created by Monteverdi was a part of the ducal celebrations of carnival.

(ii) L'Orfeo had spectacular influence and vivacious orchestration and became the first example of a composer assigning specific instruments to various sections in operas. It is also one of the first large compositions in which the exact instrumentation of the premiere has been done. The plot of L'Orfeo is depicted by vibrant musical pictures and clear and crisp melodies. With this opera, Monteverdi composed exclusively a novel style of music, ‘the dramma per la musica’ or the musical drama.

(2) L'Arianna  

(i) L'Arianna was the second opera penned down by Claudio Monteverdi. It is one of the most significant and prominent examples of the beginning of baroque opera. It was performed in 1608 for the first time in Mantua. It revolved around the ancient Greek legend of Theseus and Ariadne.

Arnold, Dennis. "Claudio Monteverdi | Italian Composer and Musician." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Sept. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2015.

"Claudio Monteverdi." 2015. The Famous People website. Dec 3 2015, 05:25 //www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/claudio-monteverdi-430.php.Read more at http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/claudio-monteverdi-430.php#hB5bbHFHj3hDE5b5.99

Schrade, Leo. Monteverdi: Creator of Modern Music. New York: W. W. Norton &

Company, 1950,

Ringer, Mark. Opera's First Master: The Musical Dramas of Claudio Monteverdi. Canada:

Amadeus Press, 2006

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