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The purpose of all music is to touch the soul.
Claudio Monteverdi
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 A Trip to the Italian Renaissance

Born in Cremona, Monteverdi took up the organ, viol and singing from an early age. Gifted and determined, the young Monteverdi began composing religious choral pieces, madrigals and a few Canzonettas! The further west the young maestro travelled the more popularity and experience he gained. When he reached Venice, he was appointed at the famous San Marco Basilica. He restored the choir and the instrumentalists to their former glory after it had suffered a steady decline in its musical standard.

Bernardo Strozzi, Claudio Monteverdi, 1630.

Le Caravage, The Lute Player, 1595, St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum

Monteverdi, Master of The Madrigal!

You may not think it, but Monteverdi’s reputation owes as much to his nine books of madrigals as to his operas. A madrigal is a poem set to music for several voices; it was typical of the Renaissance period. Monteverdi reinvented the style and the nine books are rich in diversity. Listen to the agitated and expressive Combattimiento di Tancreda e Clorinda. It is a perfect example of Monteverdi exploring these innovative developments; can you hear how the accompanying strings reflect the battle that is being held on stage by the soloists? These developments prepare for the birth of a new genre: opera!

Monteverdi: Father of The Opera

Monteverdi is considered as one of the founding fathers of opera. Commissioned to write a work for a famous festival in Italy, Monteverdi was eager to surprise and innovate. The result was his first opera, L’Orfeo. The story is of the poet Orpheus and his love Eurydice, who are separated by the jealousy of the gods. An incomparable masterpiece of its time, Monteverdi gave it the title “Una favola in musica” which translates as a story in music, however today it is considered as one of the first published operas. L’Orfeo is an instant success and for his adoring public, Monteverdi composed another seventeen operas. Sadly for us, only three survive in their entirety: L’Orfeo, Il Ritorni of Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Cover page of L’Orfeo by Monteverdi, Published in Venice, 1609 by Ricciardo Amadino. 

Le Caravage, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, 1600, Rome, Church of Saint-Louis-des-français,

Monteverdi: A Man of The Cloth

Despite his success composing operas and madrigals, Monteverdi did not forsake religious music. At Mantua, he composed his famous Vespers of 1610. It is a monumental work. At times there are 10 different lines of music being sung at the same time. It also includes a chamber ensemble that in turn accompanies seven different soloists! He then moved the San Marco Basilica in Venice, where he composed three settings of the mass. Despite some trouble with the Inquisition, his faith remained immaculate and in 1632 he was even ordained a priest!

Monteverdi is the link between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods. Thanks to him, music became a true expression of human spirit. Like his contemporary, the painter Caravaggio, they both expressed human passions in their works. Both Caravaggio’s fine brush strokes and Monteverdi’s soloist singing on stage are tortured by emotions that the artists of the Renaissance had not yet envisaged.

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