Here is the main reason: In the next few months I will be preparing my applications for different Musicology programs around the States(and one or two outside). I'll need to read too many books, study too many hours and write too many essays in hopes of being prepared. So why not include a few blog posts. With any luck, some of these blog posts will be me hashing out small ideas that will lead to bigger essays. So feel free to leave feedback.
Not to compare myself to the great composers of the past, but just like the beginning of my humble blog, there was a beginning to opera as well. A few key characters, areas, and political ideas got the entire genre off to a start and it hasn't finished some 400 years later. One of those key characters was Italian born and bred, Claudio Monteverdi. He lived during the times of the Counter-Reformation, the castrati, and great artists like Michelangelo and Caravaggio(my two personal favorites). And just like these artists, Monteverdi experienced the same papal and aristocratic pressures. More often than not they were the paycheck. It wasn't until just before Monteverdi's death that an opera subsidized by the public was a possibility. The Crowing of Poppea, Monteverdi's last opera, was written for a public opera house.
Before I get into Monteverdi's importance in opera I think it is important to set that stage (and apparently it is important enough to merit a bad pun). Here is what you need to know. There were two large chapters in Monteverdi's life(1567-1643): His time spent in Mantua as a composer who worked for local aristocracy and his time in Venice where he worked as a conductor in the San Marco Cathedral. He had a wife, who after giving him three children, passed away in 1607. He was highly religious throughout his lifetime and many of his compositions were written on Christian texts.
During his life he published many books of madrigals and motets that were both loved and highly criticized. Like any artist who brought new ideas to the table, he was accused of breaking the perfect "rules" of music composition. Monteverdi writes in a letter that he "found no book that showed me the natural way of imitating the emotion." Strong words! You'd feel this way if Artusi had said your madrigals "might have been written by a child who was just beginning the study of counterpoint." In response to these harsh and undeserved comments, Claudio wrote his "Seconda Practica" which outlined his new ideas for harmonic motion. One of the chief and most recognizable changes he helped establish was the basso continuo. As a cellist I must tip my hat to Monteverdi for helping further any bass clef instrument.
The last comment I have on Monteverdi's life that I think we never experience in todays society is the level he humbled himself to his superiors. It seems in the modern era most artists pride themselves on not being beholden to any higher power. Claudio didn't have this kind of freedom for most, if not all of his life. His letters are filled with "my illustrious Lord" and "your humble servant." Not only did he dedicate many of his works to different powers that be, but he often asked permission to compose music for certain librettos. This wasn't an uncommon practice but it seems unbelievable that even a composer of Monteverdi's standing was still at the whim of the noble class in Italy.
Below are some great examples of Monteverdi's genius. The first link is to a Sestina which is a rather unpopular and complicated form poetry. Monteverdi works wonders on the six stanzas. This recording is a great representation. The second link is to Lamento d'Arianna, which Monteverdi himself said contained many of the new principles from his Seconda Practica. Enjoy! More from Monteverdi in the next few days!
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