Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is an Italian composer, who is perhaps the most well-known composer to precede J.S Bach. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore the wide world of Divino Claudio with Stretta Music today!
Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona in 1567, the same year Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina published the “Missa papae Marcelli”, a good example of the austere style imposed upon musicians by the Church at the time. Monteverdi was a pupil of Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, the choir master of Cremona Cathedral. His compositional talent was soon recognised, and at the age of 15 he published the “Sacrae cantiunculae”, compositions for three voices, at 16 the “Madrigali spirituali” and at 17 the “Canzonette”. In 1589, at the age of 22, he joined the Court of Mantua as a viola player, and in 1603 he became Maestro di Cappella. Ten years later, in 1613 he moved to Venice, to take up the same position at St. Mark’s Basilica, where he stayed until his death in 1643.
In Monteverdi’s “First Book of Madrigals” from 1587, one can already find progressive harmonic and melodic elements that break tradition, but it is his “Fifth Book of Madrigals” from 1605, that really marks the transition between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods. It was through his harmonic and melodic experimentation that Monteverdi coined the stile concitato, as seen in his famous “Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda” from 1624.
Divino Claudio, as Claudio Monteverdi is often referred to in Italy, is best known as the inventor of musical melodrama. Although he wrote at least 18 operas, only “L’Orfeo”, 1607, the aria “Lamento d’Arianna” from “L’Arianna”, 1608, “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria”, 1640, and the “Incoronazione di Poppea”, 1643, have been preserved.
Interesting that Monteverdi chose to write “L’Orfeo” as one of his first theatrical works, the “Fable in Music” dedicated to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is said to be the first work in the history of music, and it is the same story that ends an era, namely with “Orpheus” by Gluck. According to Claudio Toscani, Orpheus is “the first real protagonist in the history of modern musical theatre”, and with him the history of opera really began.
Contemporary musicologists have devoted much attention to Monteverdi and his compositions. Gian Francesco Malipiero commissioned the publication of Opera Omnia to “spread the works of one of Italy’s true geniuses” and “to show once again how great manifestations of art always remain modern’.
The Monteverdi Festival takes place in Cremona every year, where the Fondazione Claudio Monteverdi, which is dedicated to the critical editions of his work, is located.
A fresh rose is regularly placed at the tomb of Claudio Monteverdi in the Basilica dei Frari di Venezia.
Für Blockflötenquintett (SSATB
for: 5 recorders (SSATB)
Single part descant recorder 2
Item no.: 368001
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Soli [SAATB] and Orchestre
Score
Item no.: 984081
für 4-stimmigen Männerchor
for: Male choir
Choir score
Item no.: 386463
for: 2 GES (ST) KLAV IT ENGL
Item no.: 120530
Gegenwartsmusik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 983435
Marienvesper SV 206
Urtext
Bläserstimmen (kompletter Satz)
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Harmony parts (complete winds)
Item no.: 676279
Set of parts
Item no.: 1629527
Set of parts
Item no.: 1629346
Musica religiosa - aus Band 15/1 der GA
for: für Chor SSATTBB, 2 Violinen, 4 Posaunen (4 Viole da brazzo) und Basso continuo
Chorpartitur
Item no.: 1135466
Musica religiosa - aus Band 15/3 der GA
for: für Chor SSAATTBB, 2 Violinen und Basso continuo
Chorpartitur
Item no.: 1135433
Musica religiosa - aus Band 15/2 der GA
for: für Chor STB, 2 Violinen und Basso continuo
Chorpartitur
Item no.: 1135318
Musica religiosa - aus Band 15/2 der GASV267
for: für Chor SSATB, Streicher und Basso continuo Violoncello 2
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1135188
Nr. 2 aus "Vespro della Beata Vergine"
for: für 2 Soprane, 2 Tenöre, gemischten Chor (SSATTB) und Orchester
Vokalpartitur
Item no.: 1135082
Nr. 12 aus "Il quarto libro de madrigali"
for: 5 Stimmen (SSATB) a cappella
Chorpartitur
Item no.: 1134900
for: für 2 Stimmen ( 2 Sopran), 2 Violinen und Basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 226094
Musica religiosa - aus Band 15/3 der GA
for: für Chor SSAATTBB, 2 Violinen und Basso continuo Violine 1/2, Viola 1-3, Violoncello 1-3, Posaune 1/2
Stimmensatz
Item no.: 206713
Marienvesper SV 206
Urtext
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Violin 1 (orchestral part)
Item no.: 676269
for: für Sopran,Streicher und Orgel Kontrabass
Single part
Item no.: 1135484
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
for: Gemischter Chor (SATB / SAABar), [Basso continuo]
Score
Item no.: 236111
for: Women's choir (SSA) a cappella
Item no.: 363843
Marienvesper SV 206
Ausgabe für Alt
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
4 Playback-CDs (choir part alto)
Item no.: 676144
Marienvesper SV 206
Ausgabe für Tenor
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
4 Playback-CDs (choir part tenor)
Item no.: 676145
Marienvesper SV 206
Ausgabe für Bass
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
4 Playback-CDs (choir part bass)
Item no.: 676146