12/3/2023 0 Comments Opera was developed around 1600 byMonteverdi’s riposte to Artusi was that this new mode of composing, which he termed the ‘second practice’, was not just excusable but necessary for expressing the ideas in the texts he was setting. This new style was, according to Artusi, ‘a cause for laughter, joking and contempt considering the madness of these men of whimsy who, thinking that their songs produce new harmony and new affect, give birth to new nausea and new contempt, because they bring in their train new confusion, given that they are full of things which confound the good and the beautiful of music’.Ĭeiling fresco of the Camera degli Sposi, in the Ducal Palace, Mantua Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506) But to seventeenth century ears used to the rules of Renaissance polyphony, unprepared dissonances sounded both jarring and modern. Because Monteverdi’s style ultimately won out, we are now so used to hearing this kind of writing that the differences Artusi complains about seem relatively inconsequential. In particular, Artusi was affronted by Monteverdi’s use of ‘unprepared’ dissonance – a dissonant note that is not preceded by a consonant one. After publishing his third and fourth books of madrigals, Monteverdi found himself the subject of an impassioned treatise by the theorist Giovanni Artusi, arguing against the style of composition that Monteverdi represented. But dissonance was a controversial business. He used striking dissonances to achieve dramatic effects in his madrigals, and Monteverdi continued to expand on this technique. Wert would have an enormous influence on Monteverdi, particularly in his focus on intensity of expression. Vincenzo had employed one of Europe’s most famous madrigal composers, Giaches de Wert, as director of the formidable court ensemble of singers and instrumentalists. An effective madrigal used complex polyphony while also clearly expressing the sentiment of the text, which allowed composers to develop an individual style and showcase their technical skills. Madrigals were considered the testing ground for any aspiring composer. Here, Monteverdi would produce the majority of the works that have made him one of the best-known composers of this period, including L'Orfeo.īefore he turned his hand to opera, however, Monteverdi’s main focus was on madrigals – unaccompanied, secular works for vocal ensemble. Moving to Mantua turned out to be a wise choice. When he came into Vincenzo’s employ, he had already published four collections of vocal works – the first when he was just fifteen years old – but he was yet to achieve widespread recognition. He was exceedingly ambitious, and the city promised an environment that would be conducive to developing new ideas and to establishing his name as a composer. Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Monteverdi's employer (by Peter Paul Rubens, 1600)įrom Monteverdi’s perspective, Mantua was an ideal place to work. He was friends with the poet Torquato Tasso, patronised the painter Peter Paul Rubens and, from around 1591, employed Claudio Monteverdi as a musician at his court. By 1588, Vincenzo I Gonzaga was Duke of Mantua, and he was especially keen to support the arts. Under the rule of the Gonzaga family, the city had risen to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. Naturally defended by the water that both surrounded it and linked it to Northern Europe, by the sixteenth century Mantua had become a flourishing centre for culture, politics, and learning to stand alongside Florence and Rome. Travelling to Mantua in 1588, an ambassador described the city as being ‘most pleasant’ because of ‘its wealth of many beautiful and great palaces’, and ‘spacious streets, which are long and wondrously straight. Monteverdi's L'Orfeo is part of our 2023 festival (performances 11-18 July 2023). Leah Broad explores the world of Monteverdi and the formation of an entirely new genre. Monteverdi and the birth of opera Thursday 9th Mar 2023
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