Historical Period: Baroque
Nationality: Italian
Born: 1567; Cremona, Italy
Died: 1643; Venice, Italy
Children: one daughter and two sons, only the sons survived.
Contemporaries: Heinrich Schutz
Specialty: Nine books of Madrigals, Vespro della beata vergine (1610); La
favola d'Orfeo (1607); Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640); L'incoronazione
di Poppea (1642)
Have you ever heard someone say
“keeping up with the times”? Well Claudio Monteverdi was a composer that had
the consistent capacity to re-invent and adapt his musical style as needs arose
where he was living.
What’s
Happening in History?
Around this time, England and Spain start fighting (1568), William Harvey
figured out that the heart pumps the blood throughout the entire human body,
Galileo Galelei discovered that the planets revolve around the Sun, Robert
Hooke makes up the word "cell" for those small things found in our
bodies, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn started to dominate
the art world with his extraordinary paintings, and Miquel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. It was in these remarkable times
that Claudio Monteverdi lived and wrote lots of music!
Early Years
Monteverdi grew up
singing in the cathedral choir of his hometown, Cremona, in the country of
Italy. By age 16, he became an accomplished instrumentalist, had published a
volume of three-part motets and an entire book of sacred madrigals. Motets and
madrigals are songs written to be sung in church.
Mantua, Madrigals, Motets,
& Marriage
In 1587, Claudio
composed his first volume of secular madrigals and then his second volume in
1590. It was also around this time that Monteverdi got a job as a string player
at the ducal court in Mantua. By 1592, Monteverdi had composed his third
madrigal collection and his fame as a composer was spreading around.
In
1599, something really important happened: Claudio made the important decision
to get married. He was given the joy of having three children, unfortunately
only his two sons survived. The eldest son became a musician like him and his
younger son became a doctor.
Two years later, in
1601, Claudio took a big step becoming the maestro di cappella at
the Mantuan court, and over the next four years he finished two more madrigal
collections. In 1607, Claudio took another step to challenge himself
musically, he started composing his first opera, called L’Orfeo, which
was performed in February in Mantua.
Misery
After all this joy and success, Monteverdi’s wife died after a
long sickness. Monteverdi had to deal with a lot of sadness and grief, take care of
his sons, and work at the same time; it was a very difficult period for him. This however did
not keep him from finishing a second opera, L’Arianna, and had it
performed as part of the marriage of the Gonzaga heir, Francesco, to Margaret
of Savoy in May 1608. It must have been a painful and happy occasion to have
his opera performed at the wedding. Unfortunately, all but one aria
of the opera has survived and, even worse, the principal singer of the opera
died during rehearsal. In 1610, Claudio Monteverdi wrote Vespro della
beata vergine, performed by voices and instruments.
In 1613, Monteverdi moved to Venice, where he became maestro
di cappella at St. Mark’s Cathedral. This
was the place that Monteverdi remained for the rest of his life. It was here that Claudio
wrote more operas and ballets. Twenty-seven
years later, in 1630, many of Monteverdi’s pieces were destroyed when Austrian
troops conquered the palace where he worked. After this, Monteverdi made another major decision taking holy orders,
deciding to become a priest in the Catholic Church. In the remaining
years of his life Monteverdi still wrote more operas and madrigals.
Claudio Monteverdi never gave through all the hardships in
his life, how are you dealing with the hard stuff in your life? We live in a
beautiful and broken world, do not be surprised by the bad things that happen
in life, none of us have control over that. What we are responsible for is how
we act in the tough times and the good times. What will you choose?
