Claudio Monteverdi. Monteverdi Claudio Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi

Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona. Only the date of his baptism is known for sure - May 15, 1567. Cremona is a northern Italian city that has long been famous as a university and musical center with an excellent church chapel and an extremely high instrumental culture. In the 16th-17th centuries, entire families of famous Cremonese masters - Amati, Guarneri, Stradivari - made bowed instruments, which had no equal in the beauty of sound and nowhere else.

The composer's father was a physician, he himself, perhaps, received a university education and, even in his youth, developed not only as a musician skilled in singing, playing the viol, organ and composing spiritual songs, madrigals and canzonettes, but also as an artist of a very broad outlook and humanistic views. He was taught to compose by the then famous composer Marc Antonio Ingenjern, who served as bandmaster of the Cremona Cathedral.

In the 1580s, Monteverdi lived in Milan, from where, at the invitation of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, he, twenty-three years old, went to the Mantua court as a singer and virtuoso on the viol. Subsequently (since 1601) he became the court Kapellmeister at Gonzaga. Documentary materials, and, above all, the correspondence of the composer himself, tell that his life there was by no means sweet; he suffered from the despotism and greed of his patrons, who imperiously and petty took care of his work and doomed him to a forced existence. “I would rather beg than be subjected to such humiliation again,” he later wrote. Nevertheless, it was in these difficult conditions that Monteverdi finally formed as a mature and outstanding master - the creator of works that immortalized his name. The improvement of his art was facilitated by daily work with the excellent ensembles of the court chapel and the Church of St. Barbara, wandering around Europe in the suite of Gonzaga in Hungary, Flanders, communication with outstanding contemporaries, among whom were such brilliant artists as, for example, Rubens. But a particularly important factor in progress for Monteverdi was his inherent modesty, tireless work and exceptionally strict exactingness to his own compositions. In the 1580s-1600s, the first five books of beautiful five-part madrigals were written in Cremona, Milan and Mantua.

The significance of this genre in the formation of the creative method and the entire artistic personality of the master was enormous. The point is not only that in Monteverdi's heritage the madrigal quantitatively dominates over others (only about two hundred works based on texts by Tasso, Marina, Guarini, Striggio and other poets). It was this genre sphere that became a creative laboratory for Monteverdi, where he undertook the most daring innovative undertakings even in his youth. In chromatizing the mode, he was far ahead of the madrigalists of the 16th century, without, however, falling into subjectivist sophistication. A huge progressive acquisition of Monteverdi was the brilliantly accomplished fusion of Renaissance polyphony and a new homophonic warehouse - a dramatically individualized melody of various types with instrumental accompaniment. This, according to the composer's own definition, "second practice", which found full and vivid expression in the fifth book of five-part madrigals, became the path to achieving the highest aesthetic goal of the artist, to the search for and embodiment of truth and humanity. Therefore, unlike, say, Palestrina, with its religious and aesthetic ideals, Monteverdi, although he began his journey with cult polyphony, eventually established himself in purely secular genres.

Nothing attracted him as much as the exposure of the inner, spiritual world of a person in its dramatic collisions and conflicts with the outside world. Monteverdi is the true founder of the conflict dramaturgy of the tragic plan. He is a true singer of human souls. He persistently strove for the natural expressiveness of music. "Human speech is the mistress of harmony, and not its servant." Monteverdi is a resolute opponent of idyllic art, which does not go beyond the sound painting of "cupids, marshmallows and sirens." And since his hero is a tragic hero, his “melopoetic figures” are distinguished by an acutely tense, often dissonant intonation system. It is natural that this powerful dramatic beginning, the further, the more closely it became within the boundaries of the chamber genre. Gradually, Monteverdi came to distinguish between the “madrigal of gestures” and the “madrigal of non-gestural”.

But even earlier, his dramatic searches led him to the path of the opera house, where he immediately appeared fully armed with a “second practice” with the first Mantua operas Orpheus (1607) and Ariadne (1608), which brought him great fame.

With his "Orpheus" the history of genuine opera begins. Intended for a typical court festivity, "Orpheus" is written on a libretto, clearly associated with fabulous pastoral and luxurious decorative interludes - these typical attributes of court aesthetics. But Monteverdi's music turns the hedonistic fairy-tale pastoral into a deep psychological drama. The apparent pastoral is characterized by such expressive, individually unique music, fanned by the poetic atmosphere of a mournful madrigal, that it still influences us to this day.

"... Ariadne touched because she was a woman, Orpheus - because he was a simple person ... Ariadne aroused true suffering in me, together with Orpheus I prayed for pity ..." This statement of Monteverdi contains his essence own creativity, and the main essence of the revolution he made in art. The idea of ​​the ability of music to embody the "wealth of the inner world of man" during the life of Monteverdi was not only not a hackneyed truth, but was perceived as something unheard of, new, revolutionary. For the first time in a millennium era, earthly human experiences found themselves at the center of composer creativity on a truly classical level.

The music of the opera is focused on revealing the inner world of the tragic hero. His part is extraordinarily multifaceted; various emotional and expressive currents and genre lines merge in it. He enthusiastically calls out to his native forests and coasts or mourns the loss of his Eurydice in artless folk songs.

In recitative dialogues, Orpheus's passionate remarks are written in that excited, in Monteverdi's later expression, "confused" style, which he deliberately contrasted with the monotonous recitative of the Florentine opera. The image of the hero, his inspired art, happy love and grievous loss, his sacrificial feat and achievement of the goal, the tragic denouement and the final Olympic triumph of the singer - all this is poetically embodied against the background of contrasting musical stage scenes.

Throughout the opera, melodious melodies are scattered with a generous hand, always in tune with the appearance of the characters and stage situations. The composer by no means neglects polyphony and from time to time weaves his melodies into an elegant contrapuntal fabric. Nevertheless, the homophonic warehouse dominates in Orpheus, the score of which literally sparkles with bold and precious finds of chromatic harmonies, colorful and at the same time deeply justified by the figurative and psychological content of this or that episode of the drama.

The Orpheus orchestra was huge at that time and even excessively diverse in composition, it reflected that transitional period, when they still played a lot on old instruments inherited from the Renaissance and even from the Middle Ages, but when new instruments were already appearing that corresponded to the new emotional system, warehouse, musical themes and expressive possibilities.

The instrumentation of "Orpheus" is always aesthetically consonant with the melody, harmonic color, stage situation. The instruments that accompany the singer's monologue in the underworld are reminiscent of his skillful playing the lyre. In the pastoral scenes, the flute intertwines the artless melodies of the shepherd's melodies. The roar of the trombones thickens the atmosphere of fear that envelops the bleak and formidable Hades. Monteverdi is the true father of instrumentation, and in this sense Orpheus is a fundamental opera. As for the second operatic work, written by Monteverdi in Mantua, "Ariadne" (libretto by O. Rinuccini, recitatives by J. Peri), it has not survived. An exception is the world-famous aria of the heroine, which the composer left in two versions for solo singing with accompaniment and in a later version - in the form of a five-voice madrigal. This aria is of rare beauty and is rightfully considered the masterpiece of early Italian opera.

In 1608, Monteverdi, who had long been burdened by his position at the ducal court, left Mantua. He did not bow to his power-hungry patrons and remained a proud, independent artist, holding high the banner of human art. After a short stay in his homeland in Cremona, in Rome, Florence, Milan, Monteverdi in 1613 accepted an invitation to Venice, where the procurators of San Marco chose him as the bandmaster of this cathedral.

In Venice, Monteverdi was to perform at the head of a new opera school. She differed in many ways from her predecessors and far ahead of them. This was due to different local conditions, a different historical balance of social forces and ideological currents.

Venice of that era is a city with a republican system, a deposed aristocracy, with a rich, politically strong, cultured bourgeoisie and a daring opposition to the papacy. The Venetians in the Renaissance created their art, more secular, more cheerful, more realistic than anywhere else on Italian soil. Here, in music from the end of the 16th century, the first features and forerunners of the Baroque sprouted especially widely and brightly. The first opera house of San Cassiano was opened in Venice in 1637.

It was not an "academy" for a narrow circle of enlightened aristocratic humanists, as in Florence. Here the pope and his court had no power over art. It was replaced by the power of money. The Venetian bourgeoisie built a theater in their own image and it became a commercial enterprise. Cash became the source of income. Following San Cassiano, other theaters grew up in Venice, more than ten in all. There was also inevitable competition between them, the struggle for the public, artists, income. All this commercial and entrepreneurial side left its mark on opera and theatrical art. And at the same time, for the first time, it became dependent on the tastes of the general public. This was reflected in his scope, repertoire, staging, and finally, in the style of opera music itself.

Creativity Monteverdi was the culminating moment and a powerful factor in the progress of Italian operatic art. True, Venice did not bring him complete liberation from addiction. He arrived there as a regent, who led the vocal and instrumental chapel of San Marco. He wrote cult music - masses, vespers, spiritual concerts, motets, and the church, religion inevitably influenced him. It has already been said above that, being by nature a secular artist, he accepted death in the clergy.

In the course of a number of years preceding the heyday of the Venetian opera house, Monteverdi was forced to serve patrons here too, though not as powerful and omnipotent as in Milan or Mantua. The palaces of Mocenigo and Grimani, Vendramini and Foscari were luxuriously decorated not only with paintings, statues, tapestries, but also with music. The Chapel of San Marco often performed here at balls and receptions during the time free from church services. Along with Plato's dialogues, Petrarch's canzones, Marina's sonnets, art lovers were fond of Monteverdi's madrigals. He did not leave this genre he loved in the Venetian period and it was then that he reached the highest perfection in it.

The sixth, seventh and eighth books of madrigals were written in Venice, a genre in which Monteverdi experimented before his last operas were created. But the Venetian madrigals also had great independent significance. In 1838, an interesting collection of martial and loving madrigals appeared. It showed the deep psychological observation of the artist; the musical and poetic dramatization of the madrigal was brought there to the last possible limit at that time. This collection also includes some earlier works "Ungrateful Women" - an interlude of the Mantua period and the famous "Single combat of Tancred and Clorinda" - a magnificent dramatic scene written in 1624 on a plot from Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered", intended to be performed with theatrical costumes and props.

During the thirty years he lived in Venice, Monteverdi created most of his musical and dramatic works for theatrical or chamber stage performance.

As for the actual operas, Monteverdi has only eight of them: Orpheus, Ariadne, Andromeda (for Mantua), The Seemingly Mad Licori - one of the first comic operas in Italy, The Abduction of Proserpine, The Wedding of Aeneas and Lavinia", "Return of Ulysses to his homeland" and "Coronation of Poppea". Of the Venetian operas, only the last two have survived.

Monteverdi's most significant work of the Venetian period was the opera The Coronation of Poppea (1642), completed shortly before he died at the zenith of his fame as the oracle of music, on November 29, 1643. This opera, created by the composer when he was seventy-five years old, not only crowns his own creative path, but rises immeasurably above everything that was created in the operatic genre before Gluck. The thoughts that gave rise to her courage and inspiration are unexpected at such an advanced age. The gap between The Coronation of Poppea and all Monteverdi's previous work is striking and inexplicable. This applies to a lesser extent to the music itself, the origins of the musical language of "Poppei" can be traced in the search for the entire previous, more than half a century, period. But the general artistic appearance of the opera, which is unusual both for the work of Monteverdi himself and for the musical theater of the 17th century in general, is decisively predetermined by the originality of the plot and dramatic design. In terms of the completeness of the embodiment of the truth of life, the breadth and versatility of showing complex human relationships, the authenticity of psychological conflicts, the acuteness of posing moral problems, none of the other works of the composer that have come down to us can be compared with The Coronation of Poppea.

The composer and his talented librettist Francesco Busenello turned to a plot from ancient Roman history, using the chronicles of the ancient writer Tacitus, Emperor Nero, in love with the courtesan Poppea Sabina, enthrones her to the throne, expelling the former Empress Octavia and putting to death the opponent of this undertaking, his mentor philosopher Seneca.

This picture is written broadly, many-sidedly, dynamically. On the stage - the imperial court, his nobles, the wise adviser, pages, courtesans, servants, praetorians. The musical characteristics of the characters, opposed to each other, are psychologically accurate and accurate. In fast and many-sided action, in colorful and unexpected combinations, various plans and poles of life are embodied, tragic monologues - and almost banal scenes from nature; rampant passions - and philosophical contemplation; aristocratic sophistication - and artlessness of folk life and customs.

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What is more difficult - to discover new lands or to explore and develop them? Probably no one will ever give an unambiguous answer to this question, but one thing is clear - if the honor of "discovering" the opera genre belongs to the Florentine Jacopo Peri, then one of the "pioneers" who took up the development of this "territory" - then still unknown - was Claudio Monteverdi.

The composer's birthplace is the city of Cremona. His father was a physician, but Claudio showed a keen interest in music as a child, his first mentor was Mark Antonio Ingineri, regent of the Cremona Cathedral. The works that Monteverdi published as a teenager were in no way inferior to the works of his teacher, and at twenty-three he was already so famous that Vincenzo Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, wished to see him as his court musician.

And now, a young composer at the Mantua court, who at that time was known not only for his splendor - the whole color of the art of that era gathered here. At the court of the Duke of Mantua, there were Torquato Tasso and Rubens, members of the Florentine Camerata - and Monteverdi could well communicate with Jacopo Peri, and this communication could serve as a direct impetus for the creation of his own first opera. In any case, for such a work, created in 1607, Monteverdi chose the same plot as Peri - the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but his interpretation was fundamentally different. The composer does not create a pastoral piece designed to amuse the chosen audience, but a true drama in which expressive recitation is combined with cantilena melodies of wide breathing, and along with choirs and ensembles there are ballet scenes. It is noteworthy that Monteverdi, unlike Peri, did not spare the feelings of the audience, supplying the opera with a happy ending: as in the ancient myth, Orpheus at Monteverdi loses Eurydice irrevocably in the finale.

A few months after the premiere of this tragic opera, a tragedy happened in the life of the composer himself - his wife, court singer Claudia Cattaneo, died of illness. In complete despair, he leaves for Cremona, but soon the duke called him to Mantua - the marriage of his heir to Margarita of Savoy was approaching, the celebration should be marked by the production of a new opera. Monteverdi's next creation in the operatic genre was Ariadne, which he wrote in 1608. Unfortunately, today it is no longer possible to fully appreciate its merits - most of the score has been lost, only one scene has survived - Ariadne's Lament, which can be considered the first an example of the aria lamento.

Along with operas, the composer creates madrigals. Unlike many contemporaries (in particular, the Flemish composer Guia de Werth, whom Monteverdi met at the court of the Duke of Mantua), he pays attention not so much to the exact following of music to the text, but to the overall sound and proportional construction of the form. An innovative feature that caused dissatisfaction among the conservative theorists of that time was the use of long dissonant consonances.

Although art flourished at the Mantua court, this did not prevent the duke from showing despotism, which irritated Monteverdi more and more over the years. Again he leaves Mantua, but this time the duke's message demanding to return had no effect: "I would rather beg for alms than once again agree to such humiliation." Monteverdi felt much better, being conductor of the Venetian Cathedral of St. Mark - having taken this position in 1613, the composer remained in it until his death. Over the course of three decades, he creates many works, among which there are spiritual compositions, and music for secular festivities, and madrigals, which are becoming more and more dramatic. The desire for dramatization finds expression in the creation of such an original work as "The Duel of Tancred and Clorinda" based on the text from Torquato Tasso's poem "Jerusalem Liberated". This is a dramatic scene consisting of the Narrator's recitation, the recitatives of the two characters and the orchestral episode depicting the duel.

The Venetian period was the heyday of Monteverdi's operatic work. Unfortunately, not all works created by him at that time survived, but the last one, created by him at the age of seventy, “The Coronation of Poppea”, which is rightly considered the best work of Monteverdi in the opera genre, has been preserved. This work, in which historical figures are brought to the stage - the cruel Roman emperor Nero, his mentor the philosopher Seneca - is full of truly Shakespearean passions and contrasts. So, with the tragic scene of the philosopher's farewell to his students, a cheerful interlude follows, followed by an orgy.

After Monteverdi's death, his creative heritage was forgotten for a long time, the honor of its discovery belongs to the German musicologist Karl von Winterfeld.

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Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi(05/15/1567 (baptized) - 11/29/1643) - Italian composer, musician, singer. The most important composer of the Baroque, his works are often regarded as revolutionary, marking the transition in music from the Renaissance to the Baroque. He lived in an era of great change in music and was himself the man who changed it.

Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona, the son of an apothecary and a doctor. He was musically gifted from childhood and at the age of 15 had already published his first collection of works. In the preface to this edition, he says that his teacher was Marc "Antonio Ingenieri, conductor of the Cathedral of Cremona. He studied composition, singing, playing string instruments. He published his second book in 1583, a year after the first. By that time when he got his first position, he already had several collections released.

His first job was as a vocalist and violist at the court of the Duke of Mantua. At the duke's court there were several excellent musicians, led by the famous Jacques de Werth. Monteverdi met many famous musicians, poets, artists (possibly Peter Rubens), sculptors, including those from Ferrara, which was nearby. In 1599 in Mantua he married the daughter of one of the musicians, court singer Claudia Cattaneo. His first positions were low-paid, but soon his music became well known, he became a member of the Roman Academy of Site Cecilia in Rome, in 1602 he became the chief court conductor. While serving with the duke, he accompanied him on trips and travels, including to the war in Hungary with the Turks. He also sent several of his compositions to the court in Ferrara.

The young Monteverdi was already working in the new musical style. The old style was known as "First Practice", the new style was called "". "First Practice" continued to be used for church music. In this style of writing, the music is considered more important than the words. This means that the music can be very contrapuntal, i.e. with several melodies playing at the same time, so that the words of the text are not clearly audible. In the "Second Practice" the words are more important than the music, and the music must be simple enough for the text to be heard well. This is especially important in opera and madrigals. There has been much debate among musicians about the merits of these two styles and this may be the reason for the 11 year gap between his 3rd and 4th madrigal books.

In February 1607, the first opera, Orpheus (libretto by Alessandro Striggio), was staged in Mantua with great success. "Orpheus" is distinguished by an amazing wealth of expressive means for an early work. Expressive declamation and a wide cantilena, choirs and ensembles, ballet, a developed orchestral part serve to embody a deeply lyrical idea. This opera became famous throughout Europe and is still performed today.

In the same year, Monteverdi returned to Cremona, his wife died, leaving him with three small children (the youngest daughter also died soon after). It was a terrible tragedy for Monteverdi and he did not want to return to Mantua, but the duke wrote to him, persuading him to return and provide music for the wedding of Prince Francesco Gonzaga and Margherita of Savoy. Monteverdi returned to Mantua, where he composed the opera Ariadne. The performance was a great success, the audience was moved to tears, unfortunately, only one scene from the entire opera has survived - the famous Lament of Ariadne (Let me die ...), which served as the prototype for many arias in.

Although the fame and skill of Monteverdi was constantly increasing, at the same time there were many disputes with the employer. He eventually found another job, this time as a church musician in Venice's largest church, the cathedral. When moving from Mantua to Venice, robbers attacked his crew and robbed passengers. He arrived in Venice in October 1613.

The position of maestro (music director) at the Basilica di San Marco in Venice was the most prestigious job for every church musician in all of Europe. However, the state of music in this cathedral was deplorable due to the financial machinations of Monteverdi's predecessor. Monteverdi set about reorganizing the music in the cathedral: he bought new pieces of music for the church library and invited new musicians, as well as composing music himself for numerous church holidays. He did his job well and in 1616 his salary was increased to 400 ducats. The Duke of Mantua may have been very sorry that he had lost such a musician, he asked Monteverdi to write music for him, and since Monteverdi remained his subject, he had to obey and he sometimes wrote music for important events in Mantua.

In 1619 Monteverdi published his seventh book of madrigals, but after that he began to publish less music, perhaps because he was very busy, or because he no longer needed to seek fame, or else it was believed that this music was lost.

In the 1620s, he continued his work in Venice, became interested in alchemy, met with the composer, who was at that time in Venice. After the death of the Duke of Mantua in 1626, Monteverdi began to write less music for Mantua, they stopped paying for his compositions, the war for the Mantua inheritance began there, there was great destruction and an outbreak of the plague.

In 1632 Monteverdi became a priest. In 1637, the first public opera house in history opened in Venice, and Monteverdi, who was already 70 years old, wrote operas for him. He made a brilliant end to his career with the operas "The Return of Ulysses" (Il ritorno d "Ulisse in patria, 1640) and" The Coronation of Poppea "(L" incoronazione di Poppea, 1642, historical), the latter is considered the culmination of his work. It contains tragic, romantic and comedic scenes (an innovation in opera), more realistic portrayals of characters and warmer melodies than before, uses a small orchestra, and the role of the choir fades into the background. This opera (as well as "Orpheus") is included in the repertoire of modern theaters.

Claudio Monteverdi died in Venice on November 29, 1643 and was buried in the Frari Basilica, next to the tomb of the painter Titian.

Creativity Claudio Monteverdi

During the seventeenth century there were two approaches to making music - the "First Practice" or "Antique Style" created by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and the new "Second Practice" style. Monteverdi wrote in both styles with equal skill. He lived and worked in an era of change, when Renaissance music was giving way to the Baroque style, and stimulated this transition by developing and transforming all aspects of music.

He was the first composer who fully realized the creative potential of the new musical and dramatic genre - opera. Taking the primitive means created by the Florentine Camerata and , he enriched them with dramatic power, imagination and richness of sound. He transformed the recitative into a flexible, clear melody with long and consistent lines. Compared to Peri's archaic vocabulary and methods, his operas are truly a new art.

He used rhythm, dissonance, instrumental colors, and key shifts to deliver dramatic action, presenting characters, moods, and emotions in a way that none of his predecessors and contemporaries did. He came up with instrumental techniques for playing stringed instruments - pizzicato and tremolo - to create the necessary excitement, passion and emotional tension. he was the first to understand the role of the orchestra in the opera, painting his instruments for each part, realizing that wind and percussion are good for conveying military moods, flutes for pastoral scenes, violas and lutes for sentimental episodes. For his merits, Monteverdi was called the "prophet of the opera." In his madrigals, Monteverdi also introduced instrumental accompaniment, making it not just an ornament, but an integral part of the work.

Monteverdi proved to be an inventive and daring composer. His inventions and handling of harmony and counterpoint were well received by listeners, yet many of his colleagues criticized him harshly. Being a "modern" composer, at the same time he knew how to pay tribute to the older generation and their traditional principles. He published two completely different pieces in the same collection, "Missa in illo tempore" and "Vespro della Beata Vergine", proving that he is a true master of music, combining completely different styles with his magic, while maintaining their individual characteristics - only genius.

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MONTEVERDI, CLAUDIO(Monteverdi, Claudio) (c. 1567–1643), Italian composer, author of madrigals, operas, church works, one of the key figures of the era, when the musical style of the Renaissance was replaced by a new baroque style. Born in the family of the famous doctor Baldassare Monteverdi. The exact date of birth has not been established, but it is documented that Claudio Giovanni Antonio was baptized on May 15, 1567 in Cremona.

Claudio, apparently, studied for some time with M. A. Ingenieri, regent of the Cremona Cathedral. The first five collections of works published by the young composer ( spiritual tunes, Cantiunculae Sacrae, 1582; spiritual madrigals, Madrigali Spirituali, 1583; three-part canzonettes, 1584; five-voice madrigals in two volumes: the First collection, 1587 and the Second collection, 1590), clearly testify to the training he received. The period of apprenticeship ended around 1590: then Monteverdi applied for a place as a violinist in the court orchestra of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga in Mantua and was accepted into the service.

Mantua period.

The service in Mantua brought the musician many disappointments. Only in 1594 did Monteverdi become a cantor, and only on May 6, 1601, after the departure of B. Pallavicino, did he receive the post of maestro della musica (master of music) of the Duke of Mantua. During this period (in 1595) he married the singer Claudia Cattaneo, who bore him two sons, Francesco and Massimiliano; Claudia died early (1607), and Monteverdi remained a widower until the end of his days. In the first decade at the Mantua court, Monteverdi accompanied the patron on his travels to Hungary (1595) and Flanders (1599). These years brought a rich harvest of five-part madrigals (Third collection, 1592; Fourth collection, 1603; Fifth collection, 1605). Many of the madrigals gained fame long before they were printed. At the same time, these compositions provoked a fit of anger in G. M. Artusi, a canon from Bologna, who criticized Monteverdi's composing techniques in a whole stream of poisonous articles and books (1602-1612). The composer responded to the attacks in the preface to the Fifth collection of madrigals and more extensively through the mouth of his brother Giulio Cesare in Dichiarazione(clarification), this work was published as an appendix to the collection of Monteverdi's compositions musical jokes(Scherzi musicali, 1607). In the course of the composer's polemics with critics, the concepts of "first practice" and "second practice" were introduced, denoting the old polyphonic style and the new monodic style.

The creative evolution of Monteverdi in the genre of opera began later, in February 1607, when The legend of Orpheus (La Favola d'Orfeo) to a text by A. Strigio the Younger. In this work, the composer remains faithful to the past and anticipates the future: Orpheus- half Renaissance interlude, half monodic opera; the monodic style had already been developed by that time in the Florentine Camerata (a group of musicians led by J. Bardi and J. Corsi, who worked together in Florence in 1600). Score Orpheus was published twice (1609 and 1615). Monteverdi's next compositions in this genre were Ariadne (L"Arianna, 1608) and opera-ballet Ballet of the Ungrateful (Il Ballo dell'ingrate, 1608) - both works to texts by O. Rinuccini. In the same period, Monteverdi made his first appearance in the field of church music and published an old-style mass In illo tempore(it is based on Gombert's motet); in 1610 he added to it Vespers Psalms. In 1612, Duke Vincenzo died, and his successor immediately dismissed Monteverdi and Giulio Cesare (July 31, 1612). For a while, the composer and his sons returned to Cremona, and exactly a year later (August 19, 1613) he received the position of head of the chapel (maestro di cappella) in the Venetian Cathedral of St. Brand.

Venetian period.

This position (the most brilliant among those available at that time in Northern Italy) immediately saved Monteverdi from the injustices experienced by him at the time of maturity. He served in the honorary and well-paid post of cathedral conductor for three decades, during which time, quite naturally, he switched to ecclesiastical genres. However, he did not leave his opera projects either: for example, a realistic comic opera was created for Mantua in 1627. imaginary crazy (La finta pazza Licori). This work has not survived, like most of Monteverdi's musical and dramatic works, relating to the last thirty years of his life. But a wonderful work has come down to us, which is a cross between an opera and an oratorio: Duel of Tancred and Clorinda (Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorindo), written in 1624 in Venice (published in the Eighth collection of madrigals, 1638), based on a scene from T. Tasso's poem Liberated Jerusalem, one of the composer's favorite poetic sources. In this work, for the first time, a new dramatic style (genere concitato) appears with the expressive use of tremolo and pizzicato techniques.

The fall of Mantua in 1630 caused the loss of many autographs of Monteverdi's works. The political upheaval caused by the struggle for the duchy after the death of the last of the Gonzaga dynasty (Vincenzo II died childless) also left traces in the life of the composer (in particular, his son Massimiliano was arrested by the Inquisition for reading unauthorized books). The end of the plague in Venice was celebrated in the Cathedral of St. Mark November 28, 1631 with a solemn mass with music by Monteverdi (lost). Shortly thereafter, Monteverdi apparently became a priest, as indicated by the title page of his edition. musical jokes (Scherzi musicali cioè Arie e Madrigali in stile recitativo, 1632). A book devoted to the problems of musical theory (melody) was written in the early 1630s, but little has survived from it, as well as from operas of this period.

In 1637, the first public opera house opened in Venice under the direction of Monteverdi's friends and students B. Ferrari and F. Manelli. This event marked the beginning of the flowering of the Venetian opera of the 17th century. For the first four Venetian opera houses, Monteverdi, then in his eighties, wrote four operas (1639–1642), of which two have survived: Return of Ulysses to the Fatherland (Il ritorno d "Ulisse in patria, 1640, to the libretto by G. Badoaro) and Coronation of Poppea (L "Incoronazione di Poppea, 1642, to a libretto by G. Busenello). Shortly before this, the composer managed to print his madrigals, chamber duets and cantatas, as well as the best of his creations in church genres in two huge collections - Madrigals about war and love (Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi, Eighth collection of madrigals, 1638) and Selva morale e spirituale (Spiritual and moral wanderings, 1640). Shortly after the publication of these collections, on November 29, 1643, the composer died in Venice, having still managed to make the last trip to the places where his youth passed, i.e. to Cremona and Mantua. His funeral took place solemnly in both the main temples of Venice - St. Mark and Santa Maria dei Frari. The remains of the composer were buried in the second of these churches (in the aisle of St. Ambrose). For roughly a decade, Monteverdi's music continued to excite his contemporaries and remained relevant. In 1651, a posthumous edition of his madrigals and canzonettes (Ninth collection) and a significant collection of church music called Four-Part Mass and Psalms (Messa a quattro e salmi), they were published under his editorship by the publisher Monteverdi A. Vincenti. In the same year, a new production was shown in Naples Coronations of Poppea, which differed significantly from the production of 1642. After 1651, the great Cremonese and his music were forgotten. Monteverdi's appearance is captured in two beautiful portraits: the first was reproduced in the official obituary in the book poetic flowers (Fiori poetici, 1644) - the face of an old man, with an expression of sadness and disappointment; another portrait was found in the Tyrolean Ferdinandeum Museum in Innsbruck, it depicts Monteverdi in his mature years, when they were created Orpheus and Ariadne.

Critical Assessment.

The significance of Monteverdi's work is determined by three factors: he is the last madrigalist composer of the Renaissance; he is the first author of performed operas of the kind of genre that was characteristic of the early baroque; finally, he is one of the most important authors of church music, since in his work Palestrina's stile antico (old style) is combined with Gabrieli's stile nuovo (new style), i.e. style is no longer polyphonic, but monodic, in need of the support of the orchestra.

Madrigalist.

Palestrina began writing madrigals in the 1580s, during the heyday of this genre, and completed work on the madrigal the Sixth Collection (1614), containing five-part madrigals with the obligatory basso continuo, i.e. quality that defines the new concept of madrigal style. Many texts of Monteverdi's madrigals are taken from pastoral comedies like Aminte Tasso or good shepherd Guarini, and are scenes of idyllic love or bucolic passion, anticipating operatic scenes in the earliest examples of this new genre: the experiments of Peri and Caccini appeared in Florence c. 1600.

Opera composer.

The beginning of Monteverdi's operatic work is, as it were, hidden in the shadow of Florentine experiences, his early operas continue the tradition of the Renaissance interlude with its large orchestra and choirs in the style of a madrigal or with a polyphonically lively movement of voices. However, already in Ballet of the ungrateful the predominance of solo monody and ballet numbers in the sense of the French ballet de cour (court ballet of the 17th century) is palpable. In a dramatic scene Duel according to Tasso, the accompanying orchestra is reduced to a string quintet, here the picturesque techniques of tremolo and pizzicato are used to convey the ringing of weapons in the hands of the fighting Tancred and Clorinda. The composer's latest operas reduce orchestral accompaniment to a minimum and focus on the expressiveness of virtuoso singing. The vocal coloratura and the aria da capo are about to appear, and the psalmodic recitative of the Florentine Camerata is changing and enriching dramatically, anticipating the achievements in this field of Gluck and Wagner.

Church music.

Monteverdi's church music has always been characterized by duality: polyphonic pasticcios coexist here with theatrically colorful interpretations of psalms; one feels that many pages were written by the hand of an opera composer.

Revival of Monteverdi's work.

The composer's music remained in oblivion until the 19th century, when it was rediscovered by K. von Winterfeld (1834). Beginning around the 1880s, German and Italian scholars competed in the work of reviving and re-evaluating Monteverdi's personality and work; this movement culminated with the publication of the first complete collection of the surviving works of Monteverdi, edited by G.F. Malipiero (1926–1942), a book by H.F. Redlich To the history of the madrigal(1932) and his own edition with comments for performers Vespers 1610 (1949).

(baptized May 15, 1567) - November 29, Venice) - Italian composer, one of the largest in the era of transition from the late Renaissance to the early Baroque (he worked in both the Renaissance and Baroque styles). Monteverdi's most famous compositions are late madrigals, the opera Orfeo and Vespers (of the Virgin Mary).

Biography

Claudio Monteverdi was born in 1567 in Cremona, a city in Northern Italy, in the family of Baltasar Monteverdi, a doctor, pharmacist and surgeon. He was the eldest of five children. From childhood, he studied with M. A. Ingenieri, conductor of the cathedral in Cremona. Monteverdi comprehended the art of music, taking part in the performance of liturgical chants. He also studied at the University of Cremona. His first published collections included (Latin) motets and sacred (Italian) madrigals ( Cantiunculae Sacrae , 1582; Madrigali Spirituali, 1583). They were followed by collections of three-voice canzonettes (1584), later two "books" (collections) of five-voice madrigals (1587; 1590). From 1590 (or 1591) to 1612, Monteverdi worked at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga (1562-1612) in Mantua, first as a chorister and gambo player, and from 1602 as a bandmaster, organizer of all musical life at the ducal court.

In 1599, Monteverdi married court singer Claudia Cattaneo, with whom he lived for 8 years (Claudia died in 1607). They had two boys and a girl who died shortly after birth.

In 1613 Monteverdi moved to Venice, where he took up the post of Kapellmeister of the Cathedral of San Marco. In this position, he quickly restored the professional level of the choir musicians and instrumentalists (the chapel was in decline due to the waste of funds by his predecessor, Giulio Cesare Martinengo). The managers of the basilica were glad to have such an exceptional musician as Monteverdi, because the musical part of the services had been in decline since the death of Giovanni Croce in 1609.

Around 1632 Monteverdi was ordained a priest. In the last years of his life, two last masterpieces came out from under his pen: Return of Ulysses (, 1641), and historical opera Coronation of Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea, 1642), the plot of which was based on events from the life of the Roman emperor Nero. Coronation of Poppea considered the culmination of Monteverdi's entire work. It combines tragic, romantic and comic scenes (a new step in the dramaturgy of the operatic genre), more realistic character portraits and melodies that are distinguished by extraordinary warmth and sensuality. The performance of the opera required a small orchestra, and the choir also had a small role to play. For a long time, Monteverdi's operas were regarded only as historical and musical fact. Since the 1960s, Coronation of Poppea was renewed in the repertoire of the largest opera stages in the world. Monteverdi is buried in Venice in the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

Creativity and style

Creativity Monteverdi is represented by three groups of works: madrigals, operas and sacred music. The main feature of Monteverdi's compositional technique is the combination (often in one work) of imitation polyphony, characteristic of composers of the late Renaissance, and homophony, the achievement of the new Baroque era. Monteverdi's innovation was sharply criticized by the prominent music theorist Giovanni Artusi, in a polemic with which Monteverdi (and his brother Giulio Cesare) indicated their adherence to the so-called "second practice" of music. According to the declaration of the Monteverdi brothers, in the music of the second practice, the poetic text reigns supreme, to which all elements of musical speech are subordinate, primarily melody, harmony and rhythm. It is the text that justifies any irregularities of the latter.

Lamento della Ninfa from Madrigali Guerrieri and Amorosi (inf.)

Until the age of 40, Monteverdi worked mainly in the madrigal genre (only 8 collections ["books"]; the ninth, non-author's, collection was published posthumously). Work on the first book, consisting of five-part madrigals (21 in total), took about 4 years. The first eight books of madrigals represent an enormous leap from the polyphony of the Renaissance to the homophony characteristic of Baroque music.

Compositions

madrigals

• Book 1, : Madrigali a cinque voci
• Book 2, : Il secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci
• Book 3, : Il terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci
• Book 4, : Il quarto libro de madrigali a cinque voci
• Book 5, : Il quinto libro de madrigali a cinque voci
• Book 6, : Il sesto libro de madrigali a cinque voci
• Book 7, : concerto. Settimo libro di madrigali
• Book 8, : Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi con alcuni opuscoli in genere rappresentativo, che saranno per brevi episodi fra i canti senza gesto.
• Book 9, : Madrigali e canzonette a due e tre voci(published posthumously, non-author's collection of various madrigals and canzonettes)

operas

• Return of Ulysses Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, )
• Coronation of Poppea ( L'Incoronazione di Poppea, )

Church and sacred music

• Mass "In illo tempore" ("During it"; 1610)
• Four-voice mass a cappella (1641) (other name "Mass in F"; from the collection "Selva morale e spirituale")
• Mass in four parts a cappella (1650, posthumous publication)
• Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (Vespro della Beata Vergine, often abbreviated as Vespers; 1610)
• Cantiunculae sacrae (1582), a collection of motets on sacred Latin texts
• Spiritual madrigals (Madrigali spirituali), for 4 voices (1583)
• Selva morale e spirituale (lit. "A morale and spiritual forest", 1640), a collection of writings of different genres on "spiritual" texts - mass, motets (including three motets on the famous text Salve Regina), two magnificats, spiritual madrigals and "moralizing" canzonettes.

Lost writings

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Notes

Literature

• Bukofzer M. Music in the Baroque era. New York, 1947.
• Schrade L. Monteverdi, creator of modern music. London, 1950.
• Bronfin E. Claudio Monteverdi. - L., Music, 1970.
• Konen V.D. Monteverdi. Moscow, 1971.
• Arnold D. Monteverdi. London, 1975.
• The letters of Claudio Monteverdi, ed. by D.Stevens. London, 1980.
• Arnold D., Fortune N. The new Monteverdi companion. London, Boston, 1985.
• Carter T. Music in late Renaissance and early Baroque Italy. London, 1992.
• Skudina G. Claudio Monteverdi: Orpheus of Cremona. Moscow, 1998.
• Whenham J., Wistreich R. The Cambridge companion to Monteverdi. Cambridge, New York, 2007.

Links

• Monteverdi, Claudio: sheet music of works at the International Music Score Library Project
• Solovyov N. F.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• from Vespro della Beata Vergine as interactive hypermedia at the

An excerpt characterizing Monteverdi, Claudio

“Where are they taking you, my darling?” - she said. - The girl, then where will I put the girl, if she is not theirs! - said the grandmother.
- Qu "est ce qu" elle veut cette femme? [What does she want?] the officer asked.
Pierre was like a drunk. His rapturous state was further intensified at the sight of the girl whom he had saved.
“Ce qu" elle dit? - he said. - Elle m "apporte ma fille que je viens de sauver des flammes," he said. – Adieu! [What does she want? She is carrying my daughter, whom I rescued from the fire. Farewell!] - and he, not knowing himself how this aimless lie escaped from him, with a decisive, solemn step, went between the French.
The French patrol was one of those that were sent by order of Duronel through various streets of Moscow to suppress looting and especially to catch arsonists, who, according to the general opinion that emerged that day among the French of higher ranks, were the cause of fires. Having traveled around several streets, the patrol took another five suspicious Russians, one shopkeeper, two seminarians, a peasant and a courtyard man, and several marauders. But of all the suspicious people, Pierre seemed the most suspicious of all. When they were all brought to spend the night in a large house on Zubovsky Val, in which a guardhouse was established, Pierre was placed separately under strict guard.

At that time in St. Petersburg, in the highest circles, with more fervor than ever before, there was a complex struggle between the parties of Rumyantsev, the French, Maria Feodorovna, the Tsarevich and others, drowned out, as always, by the trumpeting of court drones. But calm, luxurious, preoccupied only with ghosts, reflections of life, Petersburg life went on as before; and because of the course of this life, great efforts had to be made to realize the danger and the difficult situation in which the Russian people found themselves. There were the same exits, balls, the same French theater, the same interests of the courts, the same interests of service and intrigue. It was only in the highest circles that efforts were made to recall the difficulty of the present situation. It was told in a whisper about how opposite one another acted, in such difficult circumstances, both empresses. Empress Maria Feodorovna, concerned about the well-being of the charitable and educational institutions subordinate to her, made an order to send all the institutions to Kazan, and the things of these institutions had already been packed. The Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, on the question of what kind of orders she wanted to make, with her usual Russian patriotism deigned to answer that she could not make orders about state institutions, since this concerned the sovereign; about the same thing that personally depends on her, she deigned to say that she would be the last to leave Petersburg.
On August 26, on the very day of the Battle of Borodino, Anna Pavlovna had an evening, the flower of which was to be the reading of a letter from the Right Reverend, written when sending the image of St. Sergius to the sovereign. This letter was revered as a model of patriotic spiritual eloquence. Prince Vasily himself, who was famous for his art of reading, was supposed to read it. (He also read at the Empress’s.) The art of reading was considered to be loud, melodious, between a desperate howl and a gentle murmur, to pour words, completely regardless of their meaning, so that quite by chance a howl fell on one word, on others - a murmur. This reading, like all Anna Pavlovna's evenings, had political significance. At this evening there were to be several important persons who had to be ashamed of their trips to the French theater and inspired to a patriotic mood. Quite a few people had already gathered, but Anna Pavlovna had not yet seen all those whom she needed in the drawing-room, and therefore, without yet beginning to read, she started general conversations.
The news of the day that day in St. Petersburg was the illness of Countess Bezukhova. A few days ago the Countess fell unexpectedly ill, missed several meetings, of which she was an ornament, and it was heard that she did not receive anyone and that instead of the famous Petersburg doctors who usually treated her, she entrusted herself to some Italian doctor who treated her with some new and in an extraordinary way.
Everyone knew very well that the illness of the lovely countess arose from the inconvenience of marrying two husbands at once, and that the Italian's treatment consisted in eliminating this inconvenience; but in the presence of Anna Pavlovna, not only did no one dare to think about it, but it was as if no one even knew it.
- On dit que la pauvre comtesse est tres mal. Le medecin dit que c "est l" angine pectorale. [They say that the poor countess is very bad. The doctor said it was chest disease.]
- L "angine? Oh, c" est une maladie terrible! [Chest disease? Oh, it's a terrible disease!]
- On dit que les rivaux se sont reconcilies grace a l "angine ... [They say that the rivals reconciled thanks to this illness.]
The word angine was repeated with great pleasure.
- Le vieux comte est touchant a ce qu "on dit. Il a pleure comme un enfant quand le medecin lui a dit que le cas etait dangereux. [The old count is very touching, they say. He cried like a child when the doctor said that dangerous case.]
Oh, ce serait une perte terrible. C "est une femme ravissante. [Oh, that would be a great loss. Such a lovely woman.]
“Vous parlez de la pauvre comtesse,” said Anna Pavlovna, coming up. - J "ai envoye savoir de ses nouvelles. On m" a dit qu "elle allait un peu mieux. Oh, sans doute, c" est la plus charmante femme du monde, - said Anna Pavlovna with a smile over her enthusiasm. - Nous appartenons a des camps differents, mais cela ne m "empeche pas de l" estimer, comme elle le merite. Elle est bien malheureuse, [You are talking about the poor countess... I sent to find out about her health. I was told that she was a little better. Oh, without a doubt, this is the most beautiful woman in the world. We belong to different camps, but this does not prevent me from respecting her according to her merits. She is so unhappy.] Anna Pavlovna added.
Believing that with these words Anna Pavlovna slightly lifted the veil of secrecy over the countess's illness, one careless young man allowed himself to express surprise that famous doctors were not called, but a charlatan who could give dangerous means was treating the countess.
“Vos informations peuvent etre meilleures que les miennes,” Anna Pavlovna suddenly lashed out venomously at the inexperienced young man. Mais je sais de bonne source que ce medecin est un homme tres savant et tres habile. C "est le medecin intime de la Reine d" Espagne. [Your news may be more accurate than mine... but I know from good sources that this doctor is a very learned and skillful person. This is the life physician of the Queen of Spain.] - And thus destroying the young man, Anna Pavlovna turned to Bilibin, who in another circle, picking up the skin and, apparently, about to dissolve it, to say un mot, spoke about the Austrians.
- Je trouve que c "est charmant! [I find it charming!] - he said about a diplomatic paper, under which the Austrian banners taken by Wittgenstein were sent to Vienna, le heros de Petropol [the hero of Petropolis] (as he was called in Petersburg).
- How, how is it? Anna Pavlovna turned to him, rousing silence to hear mot, which she already knew.
And Bilibin repeated the following authentic words of the diplomatic dispatch he had compiled:
- L "Empereur renvoie les drapeaux Autrichiens," Bilibin said, "drapeaux amis et egares qu" il a trouve hors de la route, [The Emperor sends Austrian banners, friendly and misguided banners that he found off the real road.] - finished Bilibin loosening the skin.
- Charmant, charmant, [Charming, charming,] - said Prince Vasily.
- C "est la route de Varsovie peut etre, [This is the Warsaw road, maybe.] - Prince Hippolyte said loudly and unexpectedly. Everyone looked at him, not understanding what he wanted to say with this. Prince Hippolyte also looked around with cheerful surprise around him. He, like others, did not understand what the words he said meant. During his diplomatic career, he noticed more than once that words suddenly spoken in this way turned out to be very witty, and just in case, he said these words, "Perhaps it will turn out very well," he thought, "and if it doesn't, they'll be able to arrange it there." Anna Pavlovna, and she, smiling and shaking her finger at Ippolit, invited Prince Vasily to the table, and, bringing him two candles and a manuscript, asked him to begin.