Contribution of Claudio Monteverdi to music - Research Paper Example

? Contribution of Claudio Monteverdi to music Contribution of Claudio Monteverdi to music Introduction Claudio Monteverdi, born inMay 15, 1567 in Cremona, a small town between Milan and Mantua in Northern Italy, was a composer, violinist and singer. In childhood, he studied counterpoint and sacred composition with Marc Ingegneri, maestro di cappella at the cathedral in Cremona. As a teen, writing music in different new styles was his passion. As there was no credible record linking him to the cathedral choir, the music lessons could be deemed as privately acquired. The first music that he produced was some few motets and the sacred madrigals between 1582 and 1583; it had to do with child prodigy. In the year 1587, he published his first book that dealt with secular madrigals, and shortly began to look for work away from his native town. He then worked for Vincenzo I in Mantua, in the capacity of a maestro di Capella from 1591, until his dismissal in 1612. Later on, he took a more coveted post on the land of Peninsula as maestro di Capella at St. Mark's in Venice, until his death in November 29, 1643 (Monteverdi, 2011). According to Wistreich (2011), Claudio contributed a lot to the field of music. As an Italian composer in the late Renaissance era, he was the most significant producer of the then new genre, the opera. He was also instrumental in the church music by introducing a “modern” secular spirit. He is among the key figures that shaped the music history as his works majorly marked the new era of music. His substantial contribution included the introduction and also the defense of seconda practica. This was the new composing style that made the text superior over that the music motivation contrary to the Renaissance prima practica. In the prior era, the music dominated the words. This was instrumental in bringing about a new dramatic style to be employed in Baroque era. His key achievement was in his appealing expression to the human psychology. The early madrigals that he produced can also be viewed as studies of emotions that are more diverse and superior. Taking a closer look at Monteverdi's significant contribution to music in the music industry, a close study of all his nine books of Madrigals can be done. L’Orfeo became the first to display the potential of the then novel genre while his second work, L’Arianna may be viewed as that which sustained his survival (Wistreich, 2011). Monteverdi’s work is a significant mark in the transition from the Renaissance to Baroque music. Monteverdi acts as a bridge of the Renaissance and the Baroque. He combined both the secular and sacred styles to give one work. He also expanded the Renaissance polyphony and further advanced it towards the counterpoint used in the Baroque era. During his entire life, he produced work that could be classified in both the categories, and he was among the key figures that brought the most critical revolution in the style. Monteverdi also produced one of the first grammatical opera, Orfeo, in the year 1607, and was lucky to be famous throughout his entire lifetime. This opera assisted Monteverdi to create a totally new music style, the dramma per musica (Beaussant, 2003). According to Wistreich (2011), Monteverdi also produced singing forms that are quite critical part of the opera today; these include the chorus, the recitative, the arioso, and the aria. Monteverdi is also the first composer to allocate unique instruments to parts. He became a priest and his dedication to religious music did not stop as he still wrote operas, including his best known, historical L'incoronazione di Poppea. His successors further developed real character roles which significantly paved the way for new styles. It can be argued that his greatest creation remains that of the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, in 1610. This work is one of his few sacred works done on any scale, but up to this day remains one of the outstanding examples of devotional music that can be compared to other works such as those of Handel's Messiah and J. S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion. The extent of the work is wide with each part (there are 25 in total) having been fully made in musical and dramatic dimension. The instrumental textures gave instant dramatic and emotional twist like never before (Wistreich, 2011). The 1610 Vespers was an outstanding work that foreshadowed Bach's leading Masses and Handel's Oratorios. The prayerful nature and close intimacy with God evolved in the Vespers may be regarded as the earliest choral work that outcompeted other significant works for Bach's St. Matthew's Passion and others, The use of cori spezzati created a surround sound effect during its performance. Many consider it as his outstanding work ever done (Ossi, 2004). According to Monteverdi (2011), L'orfeo is another vital piece that is in almost every music history text; nevertheless, his greatest opera was the Coronation of Poppea. During that time, it was the greatest opera and performances and a critical study of the work tremendously reinforces this belief. Therefore, both the opera's are critical in the operatic history. L'orfeo became some of the first works in the opera genre and recently celebrated 400 year anniversary piece was in 2007. In addition, one cannot point out that the one or two significant contributions of Monteverdi that are outstanding. Majority of his works best shows his contributions to the production of Western Music. Bach and Handel studied in detail Monteverdi's music. Vincent D'indy was quite interested in his use of choir. The list further goes on to show the influence of Monteverdi on the composers. To have a complete understanding of his music and understand his work wholly, one ought to conduct a remarkably thorough research (Wistreich, 2011). Monteverdi also proved to be more of a theorist, if one goes by the creation of his two main compositions in seconda prattica. In 1607, his opera based Orpheus legend performance was in Mantua where he incorporated an ambitious mixture of the recitative and aria as compared to the Florentine camerata. This potentially new mix turned opera into a style that would dominate European culture many years. Later in 1610, Monteverdi published Vesper music collection settings, which used the same methodology as those of basso continuo settings. The six-part Mass setting served as an accompaniment to the Vespers in the prima prattica style, demonstrating that he was equally good in both the styles (Monteverdi, 2011) Monteverdi published a total of four volumes of sacred music during his entire lifetime. The first two volumes were student works and some written sacred madrigals done during his teenage days. His third volume publication was in 1610, including his own celebrated work of Vespers and the Mass Ordinary that had six parts majorly based on illo tempore motet by Nicolas Gombert. There was also the publication of Mass and Psalms by his pupil and an admirer called Alessandro in later in 1650 that is seven years after his death (Wistreich, 2011). According to Rescigno (2007), during his last years, Monteverdi became sick, but this did not discourage him from further composing two last masterpieces: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1641), and the historic opera l'Incoronazione di Poppea (1642). The latter became the turning point of his work. It has both tragic and comic scenes, a new trend in the production opera, more realistic character portrayal and warmer melodies than the previous. Monteverdi produced at least eighteen operas in his entire life, of which only Orfeo, l'Incoronazione, Il ritorno, and the famous aria 'Lamento' from his second opera l'Arianna have been able to survive. There are also other scattered motets published in other collections. The scattered manuscripts further document a few other motets, but the belief that the other church music inclusion in his long career could also be true due to aging of St. Mark's (Monteverdi, 2011). In conclusion, during Monteverdi's time, music publication was for two key reasons; to advance one's reputation with the musical cognoscenti, and also ingratiate oneself with a nobleman. In the majority of the cases, mainly in the hopes of obtaining a new, more coveted post in a different church or nobleman's court. References Beaussant, P. (2003). Claudio Monteverdi. Paris: Fayard. Monteverdi, C. (2011). The Operas of Monteverdi. Richmond: Overture Pub. Ossi, M. (2004). Claudio Monteverdi and the bacio mordace. Cmabridge: Cambridge University Press. Rescigno, E. (2007). Claudio Monteverdi. Milano: Corriere della Sera. Wistreich, R. (2011). Monteverdi. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate. Read More