MONTEVERDI, CLAUDIO. – Musician, b. in Cremona on 15 May 1567, d. in Venice on 29 November 1643. Early testimony was provided by the Sacrae cantincula for three voices (1582) and the Madrigali spirituali for four voices (1583, of which only the bass part has come down to us); these were followed by the Canzonette a tre voci (1584) and the first book of Madrigali (1587) for five voices.
In 1590, having entered the service of Vincenzo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua, he continued the publication of the books of Madrigali for five voices: II (1590), III (1592), IV (1603), and V (1605), which soon brought M.’s name European renown. In 1607 Orfeo, in five acts on a libretto by A. Striggio, was performed in Mantua with great success; in 1608 came Arianna, on a libretto by O. Rinuccini, of which, unfortunately, only the Lamento di Arianna and the Ballo delle ingrate remain, the latter related to the type of the French ballet. After the death of Duke Vincenzo (1612), M. moved in August 1613 to Venice with the title of maestro di cappella at S. Marco. This appointment constituted official recognition of the high prestige of Monteverdi’s personality, to which the attention of the entire musical Europe was by then directed. M. resumed the composition of madrigals with Book VI (1614), the Concerto settimo libro de madrigali (1619), the Scherzi musicali (1632), and Book VIII, Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi (1638), which contains the celebrated Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda on the stanzas of Tasso’s Germalamme liberata; many works, between 1608 and 1641, such as the prologue to Guarini and Chiabrera’s Idropica, G. B. Andreini’s Maddalena, La Favola di Peleo e di Tetide, E. Marigliani’s Andromeda, G. B. Strozzi’s La Buta pazza Licori, C. Achillini’s Mercurio e Marte, Proserpina rapita, La Delia e l’Ulisse, P. Vendramini’s Adone, and G. Badoaro’s Le nozze di Enea con Lavinia, have been lost; the last two remain: Badoaro’s Il giorno di Ulisse in patria (1641) and F. Busenello’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (1642).
The religious work has been preserved in its entirety. In addition to the Sacre cantincula and the Madrigali spirituali, M. published in 1610 Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus... ac Vespere pluribus decantandae. After moving to S. Marco, his religious production assumed a regular rhythm: the Selva morale e spirituale (1641) may be considered an anthological collection of the religious works of the Venetian period, containing 29 compositions, in addition to the Pianto della Madonna, which is a spiritual adaptation of the Lamento di Arianna, a complete mass, and a Gloria. After M.’s death, the publisher Vincenti published another collection, Messa a quattro voci et salmi, containing 14 compositions and another complete mass. About twenty compositions published in various anthologies of the period must also be added.
The most characteristic feature of M.’s religious work is the evident stylistic difference that governs its entire development. In some works M. is essentially faithful to the traditional polyphonic style, in which the «a cappella» arrangement of the purely vocal composition confers an, so to speak, archaizing character. In others, there is instead the free and inspired affirmation of a more modern style, namely the «concertante» style, which on the one hand welcomes the extensive collaboration of instruments and on the other emphasizes the expressive value of the vocal monodic conception. Although the use of melodic elements drawn from Gregorian chant still persists, freely adapted to the requirements of the new style, the artistic result has by now acquired a different significance, which would exert considerable influence on the subsequent development of
(photo F. De Fee)