Claudio Monteverdi :: Composers Renaissance Biographies Essays

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Monteverdi was born on May 15, 1567, in Cremona Italy, Monteverdi was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and the Early Baroque, and is known as the first great composer of the operas. Monteverdi is often view as a composer of the Renaissance and of the Baroque, there is a similar pattern in that is continuous that is often viewed through his work in both styles. Monteverdi often was known as a dramatic composer, while bringing a tremendous meaning from the text he set that often turned each of his pieces into a believable musical and also produced a dramatic statement. It was an early age when Monteverdi’s career began, he then published his first pieces, and this was based on as a collection of three-voice motets, at the age of fifteen. It was by 1591, when he went to Mantua as a musician for the Gonzaga court, by then he had already published books of â€Å"spiritual madrigals† in 1583, then another canzonettas in 1584, by 1587 and 1590 he published his first two books of â€Å"madrigals.† It was in Mantua he continued writing madrigals, and then in 1607 he produced his first work in the new genre of opera, the setting was of Orfeo. 1613, he was then appointed maestro di cappella at ST. Mark’s Cathedral which was held in Venice. Monteverdi had remained in Venice for the rest of his life, writing music in all different kinds of genres, including his final opera, â€Å"incoronaszione di Poppea in 1642. The style that Monteverdi intended to write in was called seconda prattica, this was a description that he used to separate himself for what was known as the more conservative tradition of Palestrina and his â€Å"Contemporaries.† The main starting point for Monteverdi was the always the words. Whatever his mood was at the time and what the words might suggest, and or whatever a one word needed to express, was mainly reflected on his music. Throughout the century, this was the basic idea of word content; this painting was used in madrigals through out the century. Due to the fact that his music expressed different moods of styles, for Monteverdi it was however isolated effect, and a guiding force. â€Å"This ideal permeated his madrigals and found new expression in the dramatic language or opera.† All Monteverdi’s techniques of work altogether made Monteverdi one of the expertise in the field of Western music.