Claudio monteverdi instruments music
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Monteverdi, Claudio
Read on for our guide to the great Italian Renaissance/Baroque composer and father of opera, Claudio Monteverdi.
When was Monteverdi born?
Claudio Monteverdi was born in 1567 in Cremona, the nordlig Italian town also well known as a production centre for violins, home of Antonio Stradivari, Giuseppe Guarneri and other famous luthiers.
This minor town in northern Italy turned out to be a surprisingly beneficial one for the composer. First, it was the home of the respected and well-connected church musician Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, beneath whom Monteverdi learned to write correct counterpoint in the old style (stile antico) bygd basing his compositions on works bygd other composers. His early motet Quam pulchra es, for example, is modelled on a setting of the same text bygd the composer Costanzo Festa, and his earliest madrigals borrow from pieces bygd Marenzio, from Ingegneri han själv , and several others.
Another advantage for Monteverdi was that C
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Claudio Monteverdi
Italian composer (1567–1643)
"Monteverdi" redirects here. For other uses, see Monteverdi (disambiguation).
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi[n 1] (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history.
Born in Cremona, where he undertook his first musical studies and compositions, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua (c. 1590–1613) and then until his death in the Republic of Venice where he was maestro di cappella at the basilica of San Marco. His surviving letters give insight into the life of a professional musician in Italy of the period, including problems of income, patronage and politics.
Much of Monteverdi's output, including many stage works, has been lost. His surv
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Biography
Claudio Monteverdi lived in a time of great change, as the vocal polyphony of the Renaissance gave way to the textures of the early Baroque. He harnessed both styles with great skill, sometimes contrasting them in the same work, and wrote successfully in every vocal genre. His liturgical works can be heard as a culmination of the choral traditions of previous centuries. But his operas embody the lyrical and dramatic innovations that were shortly to sweep across Europe. As a court musician, Monteverdi would have composed many dances and ceremonial pieces, yet almost all of his surviving works are for voices. His training with the music director of Cremona Cathedral, Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, included learning several instruments as well as composing and singing. In 1590 or 1591 he was appointed as a viol player at the court of the Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo I of Gonzaga. Monteverdi had already published several sets of vocal music, both sacred and secular. The first, Sacrae ca