Claudio Monteverdi: References & Edit History
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- Western musicEarly Italian operatic schools
- Baroque music
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- choral musicThe mass
- choral musicThe Italian madrigal
- musical compositionThe Baroque period
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- operaMonteverdi
- Western theatreOpera
- instrumentationThe Baroque period
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Additional Reading
Monteverdiās music is available in a modern collected (though not always accurate) edition in 16 volumes (some divided into several fascicles) by G.F. Malipiero (1926ā42, reprinted 1950ā67). A supplementary volume was published in 1966. A revised edition of the composerās correspondence, The Letters of Claudio Monteverdi (1995), was translated and introduced by Denis Stevens. Some of the more important letters are included in Denis Arnold and Nigel Fortune (eds.), The New Monteverdi Companion (1985; revised edition of The Monteverdi Companion, 1968). The essential documentation of his life is contained in the classic study by E. Vogel, Claudio Monteverdi (1887). Accurate biographies in English are L. Schrade, Monteverdi: Creator of Modern Music (1950, reprinted 1979); and Denis Arnold, Monteverdi, (2000). Other works of note, including critical studies, are Gary Tomlinson, Monteverdi and the End of the Renaissance (1987); Paolo Fabbri, Monteverdi (1994, originally published in Italian), translated by Tim Carter; Denis Stevens, Monteverdi in Venice (2001), concerning the last 30 years of the composerās life; Mark Ringer, Operaās First Master: The Musical Dramas of Claudio Monteverdi (2006); and John Whenham and Richard Wistreich (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi (2007).
Major Works
Secular.
Operas: Seven operas of which three survive: La favola dāOrfeo (1607); Il ritorno dāUlisse in patria (1641); Lāincoronazione di Poppea (1642). Also surviving, the āLamentoā from LāArianna. Other dramatic works: Il ballo delle ingrate (1608), Tirsi e Clori (1616), and La vittoria dāAmore (1641, music lost), three ballets; Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (1624), a secular oratorio. Madrigal collections: Canzonette a tre voci, libro primo (1584); seven books of madrigals (1587ā1619); Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi . . . (1638), eighth book of madrigals; Madrigali e canzonette . . . (1651), ninth book of madrigals, published posthumously; Scherzi musicali (1607, 1632).
Sacred.
Collections: Sacrae cantiunculae tribus vocibus (1582); Madrigali spirituali a quattro voci (1583); Sanctissimi Viriginis Missa senis vocibus ad ecclesiarum choros ac Vesperae . . . (1610), which includes Missa da capella a sei voci . . . and Vespro della Beata Vergine . . . ; Selva morale e spirituale (1640); Messa a quattro voci et Salmi, a una, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette & otto voci . . . (1650, published posthumously).
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Denis Midgley Arnold
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anniversary information added. | Nov 25, 2025 | ||
| First paragraph modernization. | Mar 27, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Famous Composers - Claudio Monteverdi. | Mar 28, 2022 | ||
| Add new Web site: San Francisco Classical Voice - Chronobiography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Feb 22, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Royal Opera House - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Dec 14, 2016 | ||
| Media added. | Oct 05, 2016 | ||
| Bibliography revised. | Sep 30, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: DSO Kids - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Apr 13, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: Classical Archives - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Feb 10, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: DSO Kids - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Feb 11, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: AllMusic - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Feb 11, 2013 | ||
| Replaced black-and-white image of Monteverdi portrait with color. | Jun 16, 2010 | ||
| Added new Web site: Island of Freedom - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Nov 20, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Naxos Records - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Nov 20, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: The Catholic Encyclopedia - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Nov 20, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Here of a Sunday Morning - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Nov 20, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Naxos Classical Music - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Nov 20, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Naxos Classical Music - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Nov 20, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Early Music - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Nov 20, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: The Classical Music Pages - Biography of Claudio Monteverdi. | Aug 24, 2007 | ||
| Article revised. | Mar 02, 2001 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jul 20, 1998 |