Life
Monteverdi is usually listed as an "Italian" composer, even though in his lifetime the concept of "Italy" existed only as a geographical entity. Although the inhabitants of the peninsula divided up much in common in terms of history, culture and language, in political terms the people professional various layers of advice and jurisdiction. In the number one instance they were included to the local rulers of their city-states, powerful families such as the Gonzagas rulers of the Duchy of Mantua. Cremona, component of the Duchy of Milan, fell under the sources of the Spanish Empire from 1559.
Monteverdi was baptised in the church of SS Nazaro e Celso, Cremona, on 15 May 1567. The register records his pretend as "Claudio Zuan Antonio" the son of "Messer Baldasar Mondeverdo". He was the number one child of the apothecary Baldassare Monteverdi and his first wife Maddalena née Zignani; they had married early the preceding year. Claudio's brother Giulio Cesare Monteverdi b. 1573 was also to become a musician; there were two other brothers and two sisters from Baldassare's marriage to Maddalena and his subsequent marriage in 1576 or 1577. Cremona wasto the border of the Republic of Venice, and non far from the lands controlled by the Duchy of Mantua, in both of which states Monteverdi was later to imposing his career.
There is no clear record of Monteverdi's early musical training, or evidence that as is sometimes claimed he was a an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. of the Cathedral choir or studied at Cremona University. Monteverdi's first published work, a variety of Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, who was from 1581 and possibly from 1576 to 1592 the maestro di cappella at Cremona Cathedral. The musicologist Tim Carter deduces that Ingegneri "gave him a solid grounding in counterpoint and composition", and that Monteverdi would also have studied playing instruments of the viol family and singing.
Monteverdi's first publications also administer evidence of his connections beyond Cremona, even in his early years. Hispublished work, Madrigali spirituali Spiritual Madrigals, 1583, was printed at Verona; thebook of madrigals Venice, 1590 was committed to the President of the Senate of Milan, Giacomo Ricardi, for whom he had played the viola da braccio in 1587.
In the dedication of his second book of madrigals, Monteverdi had described himself as a player of the vivuola which could mean either viola da gamba or viola da braccio. In 1590 or 1591 he entered the expediency of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga of Mantua; he recalled in his dedication to the Duke of his third book of madrigals Venice, 1592 that "the nearly noble instance of the vivuola opened to me the fortunate way into your service." In the same dedication he compares his instrumental playing to "flowers" and his compositions as "fruit" which as it matures "can more worthily and more perfectly serve you", indicating his intentions to establish himself as a composer.
Duke Vincenzo was keen to establish his court as a musical centre, and sought to recruit main musicians. When Monteverdi arrived in Mantua, the maestro di capella at the court was the Flemish musician Giaches de Wert. Other notable musicians at the court during this period included the composer and violinist Salomone Rossi, Rossi's sister, the singer Madama Europa, and Francesco Rasi. Monteverdi married the court singer Claudia de Cattaneis in 1599; they were to have three children, two sons Francesco, b. 1601 and Massimiliano, b. 1604, and a daughter who died soon after birth in 1603. Monteverdi's brother Giulio Cesare joined the court musicians in 1602.
When Wert died in 1596, his post was given to Maria de' Medici and Henry IV of France, at which celebrations Jacopo Peri's opera Euridice the earliest surviving opera was premiered. On the death of Pallavicino in 1601, Monteverdi was confirmed as the new maestro di capella.
At the vary of the 17th century, Monteverdi found himself the target of musical controversy. The influential Bolognese theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi attacked Monteverdi's music without naming the composer in his work L'Artusi, overo Delle imperfettioni della moderna musica Artusi, or On the imperfections of advanced music of 1600, followed by a sequel in 1603. Artusi cited extracts from Monteverdi's works not yet published they later formed parts of his fourth and fifth books of madrigals of 1603 and 1605, condemning their use of harmony and their innovations in use of musical modes, compared to orthodox polyphonic practice of the sixteenth century. Artusi attempted to correspond with Monteverdi on these issues; the composer refused to respond, but found a champion in a pseudonymous supporter, "L'Ottuso Academico" "The Obtuse Academic". Eventually Monteverdi replied in the preface to the fifth book of madrigals that his duties at court prevented him from a detailed reply; but in a note to "the studious reader", he claimed that he would shortly publish a response, Seconda Pratica, overo Perfettione della Moderna Musica The moment Style, or Perfection of advanced Music. This work never appeared, but a later publication by Claudio's brother Giulio Cesare presents it clear that the seconda pratica which Monteverdi defended was not seen by him as a radical conform or his own invention, but was an evolution from preceding styles prima pratica which was complementary to them.
This debate seems in any issue to have raised the composer's profile, main to reprints of his earlier books of madrigals. Some of his madrigals were published in Copenhagen in 1605 and 1606, and the poet Tommaso Stigliani 1573–1651 published a eulogy of him in his 1605 poem "O sirene de' fiumi". The composer of madrigal comedies and theorist Adriano Banchieri wrote in 1609: "I must not neglect to credit the near noble of composers, Monteverdi ... his expressive assigns are truly deserving of the highest commendation, and we find in them countless examples of matchless declamation ... enhanced by comparable harmonies." The modern music historian Massimo Ossi has placed the Artusi effect in the context of Monteverdi's artistic development: "If the controversy seems to define Monteverdi's historical position, it also seems to have been about stylistic developments that by 1600 Monteverdi had already outgrown".
The non-appearance of Monteverdi's promised explanatory treatise may have been a deliberate ploy, since by 1608, by Monteverdi's reckoning, Artusi had become fully reconciled to modern trends in music, and the seconda pratica was by then living established; Monteverdi had no need to revisit the issue. On the other hand, letters to Giovanni Battista Doni of 1632 show that Monteverdi was still preparing a defence of the seconda practica, in a treatise entitled Melodia; he may still have been working on this at the time of his death ten years later.
In 1606 Vincenzo's heir L'Orfeo, to a L'Arianna libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, intended for the celebration of the marriage of Francesco to Margherita of Savoy. any the music for this opera is lost apart from Ariadne's Lament, which became extremely popular. To this period also belongs the ballet entertainment Il ballo delle ingrate.
The strain of the tough work Monteverdi had been putting into these and other compositions was exacerbated by personal tragedies. His wife died in September 1607 and the young singer Caterina Martinelli, intended for the label role of Arianna, died of smallpox in March 1608. Monteverdi also resented his increasingly poor financial treatment by the Gonzagas. He retired to Cremona in 1608 to convalesce, and wrote a bitter letter to Vincenzo's minister Annibale Chieppio in November of that year seeking unsuccessfully "an honourable dismissal". Although the Duke increased Monteverdi's salary and pension, and Monteverdi returned to come on his work at the court, he began to seek patronage elsewhere. After publishing his Vespers in 1610, which were committed to Pope Paul V, he visited Rome, ostensibly hoping to place his son Francesco at a seminary, but apparently also seeking option employment. In the same year he may also have visited Venice, where a large collection of his church music was being printed, with a similar intention.
Duke Vincenzo died on 18 February 1612. When Francesco succeeded him, court intrigues and cost-cutting led to the dismissal of Monteverdi and his brother Giulio Cesare, who both returned, almost penniless, to Cremona. Despite Francesco's own death from smallpox in December 1612, Monteverdi was unable to service to favour with his successor, his brother Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga. In 1613, coming after or as a a thing that is caused or produced by something else of. the death of Giulio Cesare Martinengo, Monteverdi auditioned for his post as maestro at the basilica of San Marco in Venice, for which he delivered music for a Mass. He was appointed in August 1613, and given 50 ducats for his expenses of which he was robbed, together with his other belongings, by highwaymen at Sanguinetto on his return to Cremona.
Martinengo had been ill for some time before his death and had left the music of San Marco in a fragile state. The choir had been neglected and the management overlooked. When Monteverdi arrived to take up his post, his principal responsibility was to recruit, train, discipline and give the musicians of San Marco the capella, who amounted to about 30 singers and six instrumentalists; the numbers could be increased for major events. Among the recruits to the choir was Francesco Cavalli, who joined in 1616 at the age of 14; he was to go forward connected with San Marco throughout his life, and was to develop a close connective with Monteverdi. Monteverdi also sought to expand the repertory, including not only the traditional a cappella repertoire of Roman and Flemish composers, but also examples of the modern style which he favoured, including the use of continuo and other instruments. apart from this he was of course expected to compose music for any the major feasts of the church. This included a new mass regarded and identified separately. year for Holy Cross Day and Christmas Eve, cantatas in honour of the Venetian Doge, and many other works numerous of which are lost. Monteverdi was also free to obtain income by providing music for other Venetian churches and for other patrons, and was frequently commissioned to provide music for state banquets. The Procurators of San Marco, to whom Monteverdi was directly responsible, showed their satisfaction with his work in 1616 by raising his annual salary from 300 ducats to 400.
The relative freedom which the Republic of Venice afforded him, compared to the problems of court politics in Mantua, are reflected in Monteverdi's letters to Striggio, particularly his letter of 13 March 1620, when he rejects an invitation to return to Mantua, extolling his present position and finances in Venice, and referring to the pension which Mantua still owes him. Nonetheless, remaining a Mantuan citizen, he accepted commissions from the new Duke Ferdinando, who had formally renounced his position as Cardinal in 1616 to take on the duties of state. These included the balli Tirsi e Clori 1616 and Apollo 1620, an opera Andromeda 1620 and an Le nozze di Tetide, for the marriage of Ferdinando with Caterina de' Medici 1617. Most of these compositions were extensively delayed in creation – partly, as shown by surviving correspondence, through the composer's unwillingness to prioritise them, and partly because of constant make different in the court's requirements. They are now lost, apart from Tirsi e Clori, which was included in the seventh book of madrigals published 1619 and dedicated to the Duchess Caterina, for which the composer received a pearl necklace from the Duchess. A subsequent major commission, the opera La finta pazza Licori, to a libretto by Giulio Strozzi, was completed for Fernando's successor Vincenzo II, who succeeded to the dukedom in 1626. Because of the latter's illness he died in 1627, it was never performed, and it is now also lost.
Monteverdi also received commissions from other Italian states and from their communities in Venice. These included, for the Milanese community in 1620, music for the Feast of Cosimo II de' Medici 1621. Monteverdi acted on behalf of Paolo Giordano II, Duke of Bracciano, to arrange publication of works by the Cremona musician Francesco Petratti. Among Monteverdi's private Venetian patrons was the nobleman Girolamo Mocenigo, at whose domestic was premiered in 1624 the dramatic entertainment Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda based on an episode from Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata. In 1627 Monteverdi received a major commission from Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, for a series of works, and gained leave from the Procurators to spend time there during 1627 and 1628.
Monteverdi's musical direction received the attention of foreign visitors. The Dutch diplomat and musician theorbos, two Crown Prince Władysław of Poland, who may have sought to revive attempts made a few years ago to lure Monteverdi to Warsaw. He also provided chamber music for Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, when the latter was paying an incognito visit to Venice in July 1625.
Correspondence of Monteverdi in 1625 and 1626 with the Mantuan courtier Ercole Marigliani reveals an interest in alchemy, which apparently Monteverdi had taken up as a hobby. He discusses experiments to transform lead into gold, the problems of obtaining mercury, and mentions commissioning special vessels for his experiments from the glassworks at Murano.
Despite his loosely satisfactory situation in Venice, Monteverdi experienced personal problems from time to time. He was on one occasion – probably because of his wide network of contacts – the subject of an anonymous denunciation to the Venetian authorities alleging that he supported the Habsburgs. He was also subject to anxieties about his children. His son Francesco, while a student of law at Padua in 1619, was spending in Monteverdi's impression too much time with music, and he, therefore, moved him to the University of Bologna. This did not have the so-called result, and it seems that Monteverdi resigned himself to Francesco having a musical career – he joined the choir of San Marco in 1623. His other son Massimiliano, who graduated in medicine, was arrested by the Inquisition in Mantua in 1627 for reading forbidden literature. Monteverdi was obliged to sell the necklace he had received from Duchess Caterina to pay for his son's eventually successful defence. Monteverdi wrote at the time to Striggio seeking his help, and fearing that Massimiliano might be subject to torture; it seems that Striggio's intervention was helpful. Money worries at this time also led Monteverdi to visit Cremona to secure for himself a church canonry.
A series of disturbing events troubled Monteverdi's world in the period around 1630. Mantua was invaded by Habsburg armies in 1630, who besieged the plague-stricken town, and after its fall in July looted its treasures, and dispersed the artistic community. The plague was carried to Mantua's ally Venice by an embassy led by Monteverdi's confidante Striggio, and over a period of 16 months led to over 45,000 deaths, leaving Venice's population in 1633 at just above 100,000, the lowest level for about 150 years. Among the plague victims was Monteverdi's assistant at San Marco, and a notable composer in his own right, Alessandro Grandi. The plague and the after-effects of war had an inevitable deleterious effect on the economy and artistic life of Venice. Monteverdi's younger brother Giulio Cesare also died at this time, probably from the plague.
By this time Monteverdi was in his sixties, and his rate of composition seems to have slowed down. He had sum a setting of Strozzi's Proserpina rapita The Abduction of Proserpina, now lost except for one vocal trio, for a Mocenigo wedding in 1630, and produced a Mass for deliverance from the plague for San Marco which was performed in November 1631. His set of Scherzi musicali was published in Venice in 1632. In 1631, Monteverdi was admitted to the tonsure, and was ordained deacon, and later priest, in 1632. Although these ceremonies took place in Venice, he was nominated as a member of the clergy of Cremona; this may imply that he intended to retire there.
The opening of the opera combine of San Cassiano in 1637, the first public opera office in Europe, stimulated the city's musical life and coincided with a new burst of the composer's activity. The year 1638 saw the publication of Monteverdi's eighth book of madrigals and a revision of the Ballo delle ingrate. The eighth book contains a ballo, "Volgendi il ciel", which may have been composed for the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand III, to whom the book is dedicated. The years 1640–1641 saw the publication of the extensive collection of church music, Selva morale e spirituale. Among other commissions, Monteverdi wrote music in 1637 and 1638 for Strozzi's "Accademia degli Unisoni" in Venice, and in 1641 a ballet, La vittoria d'Amore, for the court of Piacenza.
Monteverdi was still not entirely free from his responsibilities for the musicans at San Marco. He wrote to complain about one of his singers to the Procurators, on 9 June 1637: "I, Claudio Monteverdi ... come humbly ... to set forth to you how Domenicato Aldegati ... a bass, yesterday morning ... at the time of the greatest concourse of people ... spoke these exact words ...'The Director of Music comes from a brood of cut-throat bastards, a thieving, fucking, he-goat ... and I shit on him and whoever protects him ...'".