MONTEVERDI, CLAUDIO. — Musician, born in Cremona on 15 May 1567, died in Venice on 29 Nov. 1643. Early works included the Sacrae cantiones for three voices (1582) and the Madrigali spirituali for four voices (1583, of which only the bass part survives); followed by the Canzonette for three voices (1584) and the first book of Madrigals for five voices (1587).
In 1590, having entered the service of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, he continued publishing books of five-voice madrigals: I (1590), II (1592), IV (1603) and V (1605), which soon brought Monteverdi’s name to European renown. In 1607 his Orfeo, a five-act work with libretto by A. Striggio, was produced in Mantua to great acclaim; in 1608 Arianna, with libretto by O. Rinuccini, followed, though only the Lamento di Arianna and the Ballo delle ingrate survive, the latter recalling the French ballet type. After the death of Duke Vincenzo (1612), Monteverdi moved to Venice in August 1613 as maestro di cappella at St Mark’s. This appointment officially recognized the high prestige of the Monteverdian personality, now commanding the attention of all Europe. He resumed madrigal composition with the Sixth Book (1614), the Concerto, settimo libro de’ madrigali (1619), the Scherzi musicali (1632) and the Eighth Book, Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi (1638), containing the celebrated Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda on stanzas from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata. Many works between 1608 and 1641, such as the prologue to Guarini and Chiabrera’s L’Idropica, G. B. Andreini’s Maddalena, La Favola di Peleo e di Tetide, E. Marigliani’s Andromeda, G. B. Strozzi’s La finta pazza Licori, C. Achillini’s Mercurio e Marte, Proserpina rapita, La Delia e Ulisse, P. Vendramin’s L’Adone, G. Badoaro’s Le nozze di Enea con Lavinia, have been lost; the last two to survive are Il giorno di Ulisse in patria by Badoaro (1641) and L’incoronazione di Poppea by F. Busenello (1642).
His sacred output is fully preserved. Besides the Sacrae cantiones and Madrigali spirituali, in 1610 he published the Missa in illo tempore for voices and Vespers for multiple voices. After moving to St Mark’s, his sacred production assumed a regular rhythm: the Selva morale e spirituale (1641) may be considered an anthology of his Venetian-period sacred works, containing 29 compositions besides the Pianto della Madonna, a spiritual adaptation of the Lamento di Arianna, a complete mass and a Gloria. After Monteverdi’s death the publisher Vincenti issued another collection, Messa a quattro voci et salmi, of 14 compositions plus another complete mass. Some twenty further compositions appeared in various contemporary anthologies.
The most characteristic trait of Monteverdi’s sacred output is the manifest stylistic difference that runs through his entire development. In some works he remains substantially faithful to traditional polyphonic style, in which the “a cappella” arrangement of purely vocal composition lends an almost archaizing character. In others, by contrast, one finds the free and brilliant affirmation of a more modern style, namely the “concertante” style that on one hand welcomes the ample collaboration of instruments and on the other heightens the expressive value of monodic vocal writing. Even when the use of melodic elements drawn from Gregorian chant persists, freely adapted to the needs of the new style, the artistic result attains a different significance that would exert notable influence on the subsequent development of seventeenth-century sacred music. In analogy to the penetrating effect derived in secular dramatic creation from the interpretation of verbal values, in his sacred compositions too the musical intensity is in close relation to the sense of the words. The result is a great inventive versatility, at times marked by clear stylistic originality; so that the Master’s sacred work, once considered secondary, is today increasingly recognized as an equally significant expression of the Monteverdian genius.
