Claudio Monteverdi | Italian Composer, Musician & Opera Pioneer

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align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi">Claudio Monteverdi</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li 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in the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, Austria.</span></span> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <span class="link-blue">(more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div><div class="topic-header"> <div class="d-flex align-items-top justify-content-between"> <div class="d-flex flex-column"> <div> <div> <h1>Claudio Monteverdi</h1></div> </div> <div class="topic-identifier font-16 font-md-20">Italian composer and musician</div> </div> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-flex flex-row"> <div class="mr-10 mb-15"> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="d-block md-topic-tools qa-action-buttons mb-15" data-topic-id="390820"> <button class="js-tooltip btn btn-sm btn-outline-blue border pr-10 border-2 text-nowrap" > <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 my-n5 mr-5" data-icon="more_vert"></em> More Actions </button> <div class="md-more-popover popover popover-sm p-0 font-14 z-1"> <div> <button class="js-print-modal-button js-modal gtm-topic-tool btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=390820] .md-print-modal" > <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="print"></em> Print </button> <div class="md-print-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif d-flex align-items-center pb-15 border-bottom"> <em class="material-icons text-blue mr-10">print</em> Print </div> <div class="mt-20 mb-10"> Please select which sections you would like to print: </div> <form action="/print/article/390820" method="post" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <div class="print-box-items"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><label><input class="mr-10" type="checkbox" name="sequence[]" value="0">Table Of Contents</label></li> </ul> </div> <input type="submit" class="btn btn-blue md-disabled" value="Print" /> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div> <button class="js-modal qa-cite-modal-button btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=390820] .md-cite-modal"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="verified"></em> Cite </button> <div class="md-cite-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif d-flex align-items-center pb-15 border-bottom mb-15"> <em class="material-icons text-blue mr-10">verified</em>Cite </div> <div class="font-serif"> While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. </div> <div class="label mt-20 mb-10">Select Citation Style</div> <select class="js-citation-format-select form-select"> <option selected value="mla">MLA</option> <option value="apa">APA</option> <option value="chicago">Chicago Manual of Style</option> </select> <div class="citation font-serif border rounded p-15 mt-20" data-authors="Denis Midgley Arnold" data-title="Claudio Monteverdi" data-published-date="25 Nov. 2024" data-url="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi" > <div class="citation-text"></div> </div> <button class="js-copy-citation-button mt-20 btn btn-xs btn-outline-blue border shadow-sm pr-10" > <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 my-n5 mr-5" data-icon="file_copy"></em> <span class="js-citation-status-text">Copy Citation</span> </button> </div> </div> </div> <div> <button class="js-share-modal-button js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=390820] .md-share-modal"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="share"></em> Share </button> <div class="md-share-modal size-lg d-none qa-share-modal"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif d-flex align-items-center pb-15 border-bottom"> <em class="material-icons text-blue mr-10" data-icon="share"></em> Share </div> <div class="label my-20">Share to social media</div> <div class="md-social-toolbar-circle d-flex align-items-start inverted" data-value="share" title="Claudio Monteverdi" data-url="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi" > <a class="social-icon facebook justify-content-center d-flex align-items-center align-self-center" data-provider="facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/BRITANNICA/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Facebook</span></a> <a class="social-icon x justify-content-center d-flex align-items-center align-self-center" data-provider="x" href="https://x.com/britannica" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>X</span></a> </div> <div class="label pt-20 mt-20 mb-5 border-top">URL</div> <a class="font-serif text-truncate d-inline-block" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi">https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi</a> </div> </div> </div> <div> <button class="js-feedback-modal-button js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal=".md-feedback-modal"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="message"></em> Feedback </button> </div> <div> <button class="qa-external-website-modal-button js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=390820] .md-websites-modal"> <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 mr-5" data-icon="link"></em> External Websites </button> </div> </div> <div class="md-feedback-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom"> Feedback </div> <form method="post" action="/submission/feedback/390820"> <div class="my-20"> Corrections? 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Author of <i>Monteverdi</i> and others<i>.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Denis Midgley Arnold</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-25T00:00:00CST" >Nov 25, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudio-Monteverdi/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm 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<div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Died: </dt> <dd>November 29, 1643, <a href="/place/Venice">Venice</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Works: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/LArianna">“L’Arianna”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/La-favola-dOrfeo">“La favola d’Orfeo”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Licoris-Who-Feigned-Madness">“Licoris Who Feigned Madness”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Madrigals-of-War-and-Love">“Madrigals of War and Love”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Movete-al-mio-bel-suon">“Movete al mio bel suon”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/The-Combat-of-Tancredi-and-Clorinda">“The Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/The-Coronation-of-Poppea">“The Coronation of Poppea”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/The-Return-of-Ulysses-to-His-Country">“The Return of Ulysses to His Country”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Tirsi-e-Clori">“Tirsi e Clori”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Vespro-della-Beata-Vergine">“Vespro della Beata Vergine”</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Movement / Style: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture">Baroque art and architecture</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Baroque-music">Baroque music</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Late-Renaissance">Late Renaissance</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Renaissance-art">Renaissance art</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Renaissance">Renaissance</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Claudio-Monteverdi"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref224326"></span>Claudio Monteverdi</strong> (baptized May 15, 1567, Cremona, Duchy of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Milan-Italy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Milan</a> [Italy]—died November 29, 1643, Venice) was an Italian composer in the late <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Renaissance</a>, the most important developer of the then new <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="genre" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genre" data-type="MW">genre</a>, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/opera-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">opera</a>. He also did much to bring a “modern” <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="secular" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular" data-type="MW">secular</a> spirit into <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/liturgical-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">church music</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref4979"><h2 class="h1">Early career</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Monteverdi, the son of a barber-surgeon and chemist, studied with the director of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">music</a> at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cremona-Italy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cremona</a> cathedral, <span id="ref224327"></span>Marcantonio Ingegneri, a well-known musician who wrote church music and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/madrigal-vocal-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">madrigals</a> of some distinction in an up-to-date though not revolutionary style of the 1570s. Monteverdi was obviously a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="precocious" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precocious" data-type="MW">precocious</a> pupil, since he published several books of religious and secular music in his teens, all of them containing competent pieces in a manner not far from that of his master. The culmination of this early period occurred in two <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/madrigal-vocal-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">madrigal</a> books published by one of the most famous of Venetian printers in 1587 and 1590. They are full of excellent, attractive works, somewhat more modern in approach than Ingegneri’s, perhaps the result of studying the madrigals of <span id="ref224328"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Luca-Marenzio" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Luca Marenzio</a>, the greatest Italian madrigalist of the time, and others. As yet, however, Monteverdi’s aim appeared to be to charm rather than to express passion; it is <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="exemplified" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/exemplified" data-type="EB">exemplified</a> at its best in such a madrigal as the well-known setting of the poem “<span id="ref224329"></span>Behold the Murmuring Sea” by <span id="ref224330"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Torquato-Tasso-Italian-poet" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Torquato Tasso</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h3"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref4980"><h2 class="h1">The Gonzaga court</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">It is not known exactly when Monteverdi left his hometown, but he entered the employ of the duke of <span id="ref224331"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mantua-Italy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mantua</a> about 1590 as a string player. He immediately came into contact with some of the finest musicians, both performers and composers, of the time. The composer who influenced him the most seems to have been the Flemish composer <span id="ref224332"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giaches-de-Wert" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Giaches de Wert</a>, a modernist who, although no longer a young man, was still in the middle of an avant-garde movement in the 1590s. The <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="crux" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/crux" data-type="EB">crux</a> of his style was that music must exactly match the mood of the verse and that the natural declamation of the words must be carefully followed. Since Wert chose to use the highly concentrated, emotional <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/lyric" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">lyric poetry</a> of Tasso and Tasso’s rival <span id="ref224334"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Battista-Guarini" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Battista Guarini</a>, Wert’s music also became highly emotional, if unmelodious and difficult to sing. It had an immediate effect on Monteverdi, whose next book of madrigals, published in his first year at Mantua, shows the influence of the new movement on him, though his understanding was imperfect. It represented a complete change of direction for him. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/melody" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">melody</a> is angular, the harmony increasingly dissonant, the mood tense to the point of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/neurosis" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">neurosis</a>. Guarini is the favoured poet, and every <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="nuance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nuance" data-type="MW">nuance</a> of the verse is expressed, even at the expense of musical balance.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The new style and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ambience" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambience" data-type="MW">ambience</a> seems to have upset his productivity. Although he went on composing, he published little for the next 11 years. In 1595 he accompanied his employer on an expedition to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Hungary" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hungary</a> and four years later to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Flanders-medieval-principality-and-historical-region-Europe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Flanders</a>. In about 1599 he married a singer, <span id="ref224335"></span>Claudia Cattaneo, by whom he had three children, one of whom died in infancy. When the post of <em>maestro di cappella</em>, or director of music, to the duke became vacant on the death of Wert in 1596, Monteverdi was embittered at being passed over, but he finally achieved the position in 1602, at age 35. He published two more books of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/madrigal-vocal-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">madrigals</a> in 1603 and 1605, both of which contain masterpieces. The avant-garde manner was now better <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="assimilated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assimilated" data-type="MW">assimilated</a> into his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="idiom" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idiom" data-type="MW">idiom</a>. While his aim was still to follow the meaning of the verse in great detail, he solved the purely musical problems of thematic development and proportion. Although the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dissonances" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissonances" data-type="MW">dissonances</a> became more severe and the melody sometimes still more angular, the total effect was more varied in emotion and less neurotic. If Guarini’s eroticism stimulated a sensual musical style, Monteverdi often gave his mature madrigals a lightness and humour, seeing the essence of a poem rather than its detail.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">It was the advanced musical means, especially his use of intense and prolonged <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dissonance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissonance" data-type="MW">dissonance</a>, that provoked attacks by the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservatives" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservatives" data-type="MW">conservatives</a> on Monteverdi, who became a figurehead of the avant-garde group. The attacks by a Bolognese theorist, <span id="ref224336"></span>Giovanni Maria Artusi, in a series of pamphlets, made Monteverdi the most famous composer of the age and provoked him to reply with an important <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aesthetic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetic" data-type="MW">aesthetic</a> statement of his view on the nature of his art. He disclaimed the role of revolutionary, saying that he was only the follower of a tradition that had been developing for the last 50 years or more. This tradition sought to create a union of the arts, especially of words and music, so that he should not be judged simply as a composer using conventional musical devices. Moreover, the artwork must be powerful enough to “move the whole man,” and this again might mean the abandonment of certain conventions. On the other hand, he declared his faith in another and older tradition, in which music was itself supreme, and which was, in effect, represented by the pure <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/polyphony-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">polyphony</a> of such composers as <span id="ref224337"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Josquin-des-Prez" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Josquin des Prez</a> and <span id="ref224338"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giovanni-Pierluigi-da-Palestrina" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Giovanni Palestrina</a>. Thus, there were two “practices,” as he called them; and that view, which became immensely influential, was to prove the basis of the preservation of an old style in certain types of church music, as opposed to a modern style in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/opera-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">opera</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cantata-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cantatas</a>, a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dichotomy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dichotomy" data-type="MW">dichotomy</a> that can be found well into the 19th century.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/composers-their-music" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/136303-131-B005A386/notes-Illustration-classical-music-composer-composition-blog-2009.jpg" alt="Illustration of musical notes. classical music composer composition. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society, music notes" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Composers & Their Music</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="198063" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="audio"><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/180889-005-4A4BBC87/Tu-sei-morta-example-Act-II-Claudio-2004.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/180889-005-4A4BBC87/Tu-sei-morta-example-Act-II-Claudio-2004.mp3" data-href="/media/1/390820/198063">Claudio Monteverdi: <em>La favola d'Orfeo</em></a><span>An example of early operatic recitative, “Tu sei morta, mia vita, ed io respire,” from Act II of Claudio Monteverdi's <em>La favola d'Orfeo</em> (1607; “The Fable of Orpheus”); from a 2004 live recording by La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy, conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">If the madrigals of that time gave him a reputation well outside northern <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Italy</a>, it was his first opera, <em><span id="ref224339"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/La-favola-dOrfeo" class="md-crosslink ">Orfeo</a></em>, performed in 1607, that finally established him as a composer of large-scale music rather than of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="exquisite" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exquisite" data-type="MW">exquisite</a> miniature works. Monteverdi may have attended some of the performances of the earliest operas, those composed by the Florentine composers <span id="ref224340"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacopo-Peri" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jacopo Peri</a> and <span id="ref224341"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giulio-Caccini" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Giulio Caccini</a>, and he certainly had written some stage music in previous years. In <em>Orfeo</em> he showed that he had a much broader <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conception" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conception" data-type="MW">conception</a> of the new genre than did his predecessors. He combined the opulence of dramatic entertainments of the late <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Renaissance</a> with the straightforwardness of a simple <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/pastoral-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">pastoral</a> tale told in <span id="ref224342"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/recitative" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">recitative</a>, which was the ideal of the Florentines. His recitative is more flexible and expressive than theirs, based on the declamatory melody of his madrigals rather than on their theories about heightened speech. Above all, he had a greater gift for dramatic unity, shaping whole acts into musical units, rather than assembling them from small sections. He also showed a sense of matching the climaxes in the drama by musical climaxes, using dissonance, the singer’s virtuosity, or instrumental sonorities to create the sense of heightened emotion.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="198061" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="audio"><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/87/180887-005-BF1BB0A2/performance-Dove-dove-la-fede-direction-Lamento-2006.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/87/180887-005-BF1BB0A2/performance-Dove-dove-la-fede-direction-Lamento-2006.mp3" data-href="/media/1/390820/198061">Claudio Monteverdi: <em>Lamento d'Arianna</em></a><span>“Dove, dov'è la fede,” from Claudio Monteverdi's <em>Lamento d'Arianna</em> (1608; “Ariadne's Lament”); from a 2006 performance by Delitiæ Musicæ, under the direction of Marco Longhini.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">A few months after the production of <em>Orfeo</em>, Monteverdi suffered the loss of his wife, seemingly after a long illness. He retired in a state of deep depression to his father’s home at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cremona-Italy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cremona</a>, but he was summoned back to Mantua almost immediately to compose a new <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="opera" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/opera" data-type="EB">opera</a> as part of the celebrations on the occasion of the marriage of the heir to the duchy, <span id="ref224343"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giovan-Francesco-II-Gonzaga" class="md-crosslink ">Francesco Gonzaga</a>, to Margaret of Savoy. Monteverdi returned unwillingly and was promptly submerged in a massive amount of work. He composed not only an opera but also a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/ballet" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">ballet</a> and music for an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/intermezzo-music-and-theater" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">intermezzo</a> to a play. Further disaster occurred when the opera, <em><span id="ref224344"></span>L’Arianna</em>, was in rehearsal, for the prima donna, a young girl who had been living in Monteverdi’s home, possibly as a pupil of his wife, died of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/smallpox" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">smallpox</a>. Nevertheless, the part was recast, and the opera was finally produced in May 1608. It was an enormous success. The score has been lost, except for the famous “<span id="ref224345"></span>Lamento,” which survives in various versions and is the first great operatic <em><span id="ref224346"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/scena" class="md-crosslink ">scena</a></em> (i.e., a scene of especially dramatic effect, usually with arias).</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=august-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">After this enormous effort, Monteverdi returned again to Cremona in a condition of collapse, which seems to have lasted for a long time. He was ordered back to Mantua in November 1608 but refused to go. He eventually returned, but thereafter he hated the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gonzaga-dynasty" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Gonzaga</a> court, which he maintained had undervalued and underpaid him, though he gained a raise in pay and a small pension for his success with <em>L’Arianna</em>. He does not, however, appear to have been uncreative, though the music he wrote in the next year or so reflects his depression. He arranged the “Lamento” as a five-voiced madrigal and wrote a madrigalian threnody on the death of his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="prima donna" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/prima donna" data-type="EB">prima donna</a>. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/sestina-poetic-form" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">sestina</a>, published later in the sixth book of madrigals, represents the peak of dissonant, agonized music in this style. In a more vigorous vein, he wrote some church music, which he published in 1610 in a volume containing a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/mass-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">mass</a> in the old style and music for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/vespers" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">vespers</a> on feasts of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-mother-of-Jesus" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Blessed Virgin Mary</a>. The mass was a remarkable achievement, a deliberate attempt to show that the polyphonic idiom was still possible when everywhere it was dying. Still more remarkable is the vespers music, a virtual compendium of all the kinds of modern church music possible at the time—grand psalm settings in the Venetian manner, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="virtuoso" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/virtuoso" data-type="EB">virtuoso</a> music for solo singers, instrumental music used for interludes in the service, even an attempt to use up-to-date operatic music to set the expressive, emotional words of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magnificat" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Magnificat</a>. Yet, though this music is as “advanced” as possible, Monteverdi makes it an extension of the old tradition by using <span id="ref224347"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/plainsong-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">plainsong</a> tunes—ancient unaccompanied liturgical chants—as the thematic material for the psalms and Magnificats. Above all, it is music of the <span id="ref224348"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Counter-Reformation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Counter-Reformation</a>; using all means, traditional and new, secular and religious, it is designed to impress the listener with the power of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Roman Catholic Church</a> and its God.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":2,"pageId":390820,"pageLength":1643,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-131/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.131.7"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-131/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.131.7' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"D","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Claudio Monteverdi | Italian Composer, Musician & Opera Pioneer | Britannica