Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Monteverdi is widely viewed as the figure who most seamlessly connected Renaissance practices to the nascent Baroque style, the very shift for which he receives frequent recognition as the decisive innovator. The progression from his initial canzonettas and madrigals through his final operas mirrors the profound changes in musical priorities that unfolded across the closing years of the sixteenth century and the opening decades of the seventeenth.

Born in Cremona, Italy, on May 15, 1567, Monteverdi displayed conspicuous talent early on: a leading Venetian press issued his first work when he turned fifteen, and multiple compositions had already appeared by the time he reached twenty. His debut collection of five-voice madrigals, although dedicated to his Cremonese teacher Ingegnieri, extended his reputation well beyond his native city and secured a post at the court of Duke Gonzaga of Mantua. Works from that Mantuan phase reflect the example of Giaches de Wert, whom Monteverdi later replaced as maestro di cappella. Public attention intensified around this period largely because of the attacks mounted by G.M. Artusi in the celebrated 1600 treatise “on the imperfection of modern music.” Artusi condemned Monteverdi’s contrapuntal liberties and singled out passages from the madrigals as proof of contemporary excess. In the prefatory reply attached to his fifth book of madrigals, the composer introduced the paired designations that came to define the aesthetic divide of the era. He labeled the older manner, governed by established contrapuntal rules rather than expressive demands, the prima prattica. The seconda prattica, illustrated by pieces such as Crudi Amarilli, subordinated music to textual expression through any necessary means, even “incorrect” counterpoint, to heighten the words.

Monteverdi’s first opera, L’Orfeo—the earliest that modern stages still revive regularly—was staged in Mantua in 1607. It was followed the next year by L’Arianna, which enjoyed great success yet survives today only in its libretto and in the title character’s celebrated lament, preserved in polyphonic form within the sixth book of madrigals (1614). Friction with the Gonzaga court prompted him to pursue employment elsewhere, culminating in his 1612 appointment as maestro di cappella at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice.

The initial Venetian years were devoted to restoring the cappella, delaying Monteverdi’s acceptance of outside commissions. In 1616 he supplied the ballet Tirsi i Clori for Ferdinand of Mantua, the preferred brother of his late and resented former patron. Subsequent projects included the abandoned opera La finta pazza Licori and the dramatic dialogue Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.

The 1630s brought sparse opportunities: political strife and plague outbreaks curtailed commissions from both Mantua and Venice. Once Venetian opera houses opened in 1637, however, Monteverdi’s theatrical output resumed. A new staging of L’Arianna appeared in 1640, followed within two years by three further operas—Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Le nozze d’Enea con Lavinia (likewise lost), and L’incoronazione di Poppea. This late flowering ended with his death in Venice in 1643.