– Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
achievement as a composer: his nine books of madrigals, which give a continuum
of the advancement of the Italian madrigal over several decades; his revolutionary
Vespers of 1610, which still remain among the most performed pieces of music today;
or any of his three surviving groundbreaking operas, which are more performed
than any other operas by his contemporaries. Revered as the revolutionary
composer whose music bridged the transition between the Renaissance and
Baroque, Cremona-born Monteverdi received his only formal musical training from
the cathedral maestro di cappella Marc Antonio Ingegneri. Under Ingegneri’s tutelage,
position at one of Italy’s numerous wealthy and musically rich courts. In due course,
he earned a position at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, where he remained for the
next 22 years, eventually becoming the maestro di cappella. Although Monteverdi
hoped to gain a position in Rome, he “settled” for the maestro di cappella position
at St. Mark’s Cathedral in 1613. He remained in that post, composing pioneering
operas, madrigals and sacred motets until his death in Venice in November 1643.
His nine books of madrigals span the stylistic gamut from Marenzio-inspired early
works to later, groundbreaking continuo madrigals almost akin to dramatic cantatas.
From Monteverdi’s Sesto libro de madrigali
voice madrigal (not to be confused with the
jauntier duet of a similar title), and is a setting of a Petrarch sonnet. Interestingly,
for a poet of such renown, this is one of just six Petrarch texts that Monteverdi
set. At this point in his career, Monteverdi was writing in the seconda prattica
style, characterized by the use of free counterpoint and unusual dissonances; in
this style, the music was subservient to the text. Thus, in this madrigal, the music
mimics the clear juxtapositions of mood in Petrarch’s sonnet – a triple-time bucolic
dance contrasted with a slow and wildly dissonant depiction of the wild and savage
beasts. Monteverdi’s use of chromaticism rivals some of the most extreme settings
by Gesualdo. Zephyrus is the West Wind, the gentlest of the winds, and also the
messenger of spring. The sisters Procne and Philomela were transformed by the
gods into a swallow and nightingale, respectively.
Zephyrus returns and brings fair weather,
e garir Progne e pianger Filomena, and Procne singing, and Philomela weeping,
e primavera candida et vermiglia. and the springtime, white and vermilion.
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