Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Claudio Monteverdi began his musical work while he was still quite young. He published a compilation of motets (polyphonic and polytextual vocal music) when he was only fifteen years old. He had also published madrigals (secular music based on a love poem) and conzonettas in the 1580s. He published a total of 8 books of madrigals between 1587 and 1638. In 1607, he branched out into composing operatic woks. The first opera he created was Orfeo.

Monteverdi’s attention to the words of the music separates him apart from other composers of the time. To him, the words were the center of the work. Instrumental music only served to bring the words to life. This concept is the foundation of word painting which Monteverdi was expert at.

Monteverdi had studied at the Cremona Cathedral under Ingegneri, maestro di cappella and Giaches de Wert, maestro di cappella. In 1601, he succeeded to the position of maestro di cappella, and in 1613 he became the maestro di cappella at St. Mark’s in Venice. He also worked for Vincezo Gonzago, the Duke of Mantuna in 1591.