Claudio Monteverdi biography. Claudio Monteverdi

Monteverdi defends the rights of feelings and freedom in music. Despite the protests of the defenders of the rules, he breaks the shackles with which music has entangled itself, and wants it to henceforth follow only the dictates of the heart.
R. Rolland

The work of the Italian opera composer C. Monteverdi is one of the unique phenomena in musical culture XVII century In his interest in man, in his passions and suffering, Monteverdi is a true artist of the Renaissance. None of the composers of that time managed to express the tragic feeling of life in music in such a way, to come closer to comprehending its truth, to reveal the pristine nature of human characters.

Monteverdi was born into a doctor's family. His music lessons conducted by M. Ingenieri, an experienced musician, conductor of the Cremona Cathedral. He developed the polyphonic technique of the future composer and introduced him to the best choral works of G. Palestrina and O. Lasso. Moiteverdi started composing early. Already in the early 1580s. The first collections of vocal polyphonic works (madrigals, motets, cantatas) were published, and by the end of this decade he became a famous composer in Italy, a member of the Accademia di Sita Cecilia in Rome. Since 1590 Monteverdi - in service in court chapel Duke of Mantua (first as an orchestrator and singer, and then as a conductor). The lush, rich court of Vincenzo Gonzaga attracted the best artistic forces of the time. In all likelihood, Monteverdi could have met the great Italian poet T. Tasso, Flemish artist P. Rubens, members of the famous Florentine Camerata, authors of the first operas - J. Peri, O. Rinuccini. Accompanying the Duke on frequent travels and military campaigns, the composer visited Prague, Vienna, Innsbruck, and Antwerp. In February 1607, Monteverdi's first opera, “Orpheus” (libretto by A. Strigio), was staged with great success in Mantua. Monteverdi turned a pastoral play intended for palace festivities into a real drama about the suffering and tragic fate of Orpheus, about the immortal beauty of his art. (Monteverdi and Strigio preserved the tragic version of the myth’s denouement - Orpheus, leaving the kingdom of the dead, violates the ban, looks back at Eurydice and loses her forever.) “Orpheus” is distinguished by its surprising early work wealth of funds. Expressive recitation and a wide cantilena, choirs and ensembles, ballet, and a developed orchestral part serve to embody a deeply lyrical concept. Only one scene from Monteverdi's second opera, Ariadne (1608), has survived to this day. This is the famous "Ariadne's Lament" ("Let me die..."), which served as the prototype for many lamento arias (complaint arias) in Italian opera. (Ariadne's Lament is known in two versions - for solo voice and in the form of a five-voice madrigal.)

In 1613, Monteverdi moved to Venice and until the end of his life remained in the service of conductor in the Cathedral of St. Mark. The rich musical life of Venice opened up new opportunities for the composer. Monteverdi writes operas, ballets, interludes, madrigals, music for church and court festivities. One of the most original works of these years is the dramatic scene “The Duel of Tancred and Clorinda” based on the text from T. Tasso’s poem “Jerusalem Liberated”, which combined reading (the part of the Narrator), acting (the recitative parts of Tancred and Clorinda) and an orchestra that depicts the course of the duel , reveals the emotional nature of the scene. In connection with “The Duel,” Monteverdi wrote about a new style of concitato (excited, excited), contrasting it with the “soft, moderate” style that was dominant at that time.

Many of Monteverdi’s madrigals are also distinguished by their highly expressive, dramatic character (the last, eighth collection of madrigals was created in Venice, 1638). In this genre there are many voices vocal music the composer's style was formed, a selection took place expressive means. The harmonic language of madrigals is especially original (bold tonal comparisons, chromatic, dissonant chords, etc.). In the late 1630s - early 40s. Monteverdi's operatic work reaches its highest peak (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland - 1640, Adonis - 1639, The Wedding of Aeneas and Lavinia - 1641; the last two operas have not survived).

In 1642, Monteverdi’s “Coronation of Poppea” was staged in Venice (libretto by F. Businello based on Tacitus’s “Annals”). The last opera of the 75-year-old composer became a true peak, the result creative path. It contains specific, really existing historical figures- Roman Emperor Nero, known for his treachery and cruelty, his teacher was the philosopher Seneca. Much in “Coronation” suggests analogies with the tragedies of the composer’s brilliant contemporary, W. Shakespeare. Openness and intensity of passions, sharp, truly “Shakespearean” contrasts of sublime scenes and genre-everyday, comedic scenes. Thus, Seneca’s farewell to his students - the tragic climax of the story - is replaced by a cheerful interlude between the page and the maid, and then a real orgy begins - Nero and his friends mock the teacher and celebrate his death.

“His only law is life itself,” R. Rolland wrote about Monteverdi. With the boldness of discovery, Monteverdi's work was long ahead of its time. The composer foresaw a very distant future musical theater: realism of operatic dramaturgy by W. A. Mozart, G. Verdi, M. Mussorgsky. Perhaps that is why the fate of his works was so surprising. Long years they remained in oblivion and only came back to life in our time.

I. Okhalova

The son of a doctor and the eldest of five brothers. He studied music with M. A. Ingenieri. At the age of fifteen he published Spiritual Tunes, and in 1587 - the first book of madrigals. In 1590, at the court of the Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo Gonzaga became a violist and singer, then the head of the chapel. Accompanies the Duke to Hungary (during the Turkish campaign) and Flanders. In 1595 he married the singer Claudia Cattaneo, who would give him three sons; she would die in 1607 shortly after the triumph of Orpheus. From 1613 - lifelong position of head of the chapel in the Venetian Republic; composing sacred music, the latest books of madrigals, dramatic works, mostly lost. Around 1632 he took the priesthood.

Monteverdi's operatic work has very solid foundations, being the fruit of previous experience in composing madrigals and sacred music, genres in which the Cremonese master achieved incomparable results. The main stages of it theatrical activities- in any case, based on what has come down to us - there appear to be two clearly distinguishable periods: the Mantuan period at the beginning of the century and the Venetian period, which falls in its middle.

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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 The Renaissance was coming a new style baroque. Born into a family famous doctor Baldassare Monteverdi. The exact date of birth is not 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 essays published by young composer (Spiritual tunes, Cantiunculae Sacrae, 1582; Spiritual madrigals, Madrigali Spirituali, 1583; three-voice canzonettas, 1584; five-voice madrigals in two volumes: the First Collection, 1587 and the Second Collection, 1590), clearly indicate the training he received. The period of apprenticeship ended around 1590: Monteverdi then applied for a place as a violinist in the court orchestra of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga in Mantua and was accepted into the service.

Mantuan period.

The service in Mantua brought the musician a lot of disappointments. Only in 1594 Monteverdi became a cantor and only on May 6, 1601, after the departure of B. Pallavicino, he received the position 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. During his first decade at the Mantuan court, Monteverdi accompanied his patron on his travels to Hungary (1595) and Flanders (1599). These years brought a rich harvest of five-voice madrigals (Third collection, 1592; Fourth collection, 1603; Fifth collection, 1605). Many of the madrigals became famous long before they were printed. At the same time, these works caused an attack of anger in G.M. Artusi, a canon from Bologna, who criticized Monteverdi’s compositional 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(Explanation), this work was published as an appendix to a collection of Monteverdi's compositions Music jokes(Scherzi musicali, 1607). During 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 styles.

Monteverdi's creative evolution in the opera genre began later, in February 1607, when he completed The Tale of Orpheus (La Favola d'Orfeo) to the 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 the Florentine Camerata (a group of musicians led by G. Bardi and G. Corsi, who worked together in Florence in 1600). Score Orpheus was published twice (1609 and 1615). Monteverdi's next works in this genre were Ariadne (L"Arianna, 1608) and opera-ballet Ballet of the Ingrates (Il Ballo dell"ingrate, 1608) - both works based on texts by O. Rinuccini. During the same period, Monteverdi made his first appearance in the field church music and published a mass in the old style 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 he experienced during his maturity. He served in the honorable and well-paid post of cathedral conductor for three decades, and during this time, quite naturally, switched to church genres. However, he did not leave his opera projects: for example, a realistic comic opera was created for Mantua in 1627 Imaginary madwoman (La finta pazza Licori). This work has not survived, like most of Monteverdi's musical and dramatic works dating back to the last thirty years of his life. But a wonderful work has come down to us, which is something 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 the poem by T. Tasso 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 illegal books). The end of the plague epidemic in Venice was celebrated in the Cathedral of St. Stamp 28 November 1631 solemn mass with music by Monteverdi (lost). Soon after this, Monteverdi apparently became a priest, as he says title page publishing it Musical jokes (Scherzi musicali cioè Arie e Madrigali in stile recitativo, 1632). Book, dedicated to problems music theory(melodies), was written in the early 1630s, but little has survived from it, as well as from the operas of this period.

In 1637, the first public opera house opened in Venice under the leadership of Monteverdi's friends and students B. Ferrari and F. Manelli. This event marked the beginning of the flowering of Venetian opera in the 17th century. For the first four Venetian opera houses Monteverdi, who was then already 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, libretto by G. Badoaro) and Coronation of Poppea (L'Incoronazione di Poppea, 1642, libretto by G. Busenello). Not long before this, the composer managed to publish 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). Soon after the publication of these collections, on November 29, 1643, the composer died in Venice, having still managed to complete last trip to the places where he spent his youth, i.e. to Cremona and Mantua. His funeral took place solemnly in both main churches of Venice - St. Marka and Santa Maria dei Frari. The composer's remains were buried in the second of these churches (in the chapel of St. Ambrose). For about a decade, Monteverdi's music continued to excite his contemporaries and remain relevant. In 1651, a posthumous edition of his madrigals and canzonettas (Ninth Collection) and a significant collection of church music entitled 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 Coronation of Poppea, significantly different 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 discovered in the Tyrolean Ferdinandeum Museum in Innsbruck, depicting Monteverdi in mature years when 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 operas performed the type 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 the stile antico (old style) of Palestrina is combined with the stile nuovo (new style) of Gabrieli, i.e. the style is no longer polyphonic, but monodic, requiring the support of an orchestra.

Madrigalist.

Palestrina began writing madrigals in the 1580s, during the heyday of the genre, and completed the madrigal Sixth Collection (1614), containing five-voice madrigals with the obligatory basso continuo, i.e. quality that defines the new concept of the madrigal style. Many of the texts of Monteverdi's madrigals are taken from pastoral comedies like Aminte Tasso or To the Good Shepherd Guarini, and represent scenes of idyllic love or bucolic passions, 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 the Florentine experiments; his early operas continue the tradition of the Renaissance interlude with its large orchestra and choirs in the madrigal style or with polyphonically animated movement of voices. However, already in Ballet of the Ingrates the predominance of solo monody and ballet numbers in the sense of the French ballet de cour (court ballet of the 17th century) is noticeable. 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 concentrate on the expressiveness of virtuoso singing. The vocal coloratura and aria da capo are about to appear, and the psalmodizing recitative of the Florentine Camerata changes and is enriched dramatically, anticipating the achievements in this area 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 to revive and reassess Monteverdi's personality and work; this movement has reached highest point when the first one was published full meeting surviving works of Monteverdi, edited by J.F. Malipiero (1926–1942), book by H.F. Redlich To the history of the madrigal(1932) and its own edition with comments for performers Vespers 1610 (1949).

Claudio(Giovan Antonio) Monteverdi(baptized May 15, 1567, Cremona - November 29, 1643, Venice) - Italian composer.

Monteverdi's work, innovative in many ways, marks the transition in the history of music from the Renaissance to the Baroque era. He worked in many genres of secular and church music. Most notable are his madrigals and operas, including the opera Orpheus, which is still performed today.

Claudio Monteverdi was born in 1567 in Cremona, a city in Northern Italy, into the family of Balthasar Monteverdi, a doctor, pharmacist and surgeon. He was the eldest of five children. From childhood he studied with M.-A. Ingenieri, bandmaster cathedral in Cremona. Monteverdi learned the art of music by taking part in the performance of liturgical chants. He also studied at the University of Cremona. His first collections, which included small motets and spiritual madrigals, were published in 1582 and 1583 (Cantiunculae Sacrae, 1582; Madrigal Spirituali, 1583). They were followed by collections of three-voice canzonettas (1584), and later two “books” (collections) of five-voice madrigals (1587; 1590). From 1590 (or 1591) to 1612 Monteverdi worked at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga (1562-1612) in Mantua, first as a singer and gamblist, and from 1602 as a bandmaster, organizer of all musical life at the ducal court.

In 1599 Monteverdi married the 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 conductor of the Cathedral of San Marco. He quickly regained this position professional level choir musicians and instrumentalists (the chapel was in decline due to the mismanagement of funds by its predecessor, Giulio Cesare Martinengo). The administrators of the basilica were delighted to acquire such an exceptional musician as Monteverdi, because the musical aspect of the services had been in decline since the death of Giovanni Croce in 1609.

Around 1632 Monteverdi was ordained a priest. IN last years life from his pen came the last two masterpieces: The Return of Ulysses (Il ritorno d "Ulisse in patria, 1641), and the historical opera The Coronation of Poppea (L" incoronazione di Poppea, 1642), the plot of which was based on events from the life of the Roman Emperor Nero. The Coronation of Poppea is considered the culmination of Monteverdi's entire work. It combines tragic, romantic and comic scenes (a new step in dramaturgy opera genre), more realistic portrait characteristics of characters and melodies, characterized by extraordinary warmth and sensuality. The opera required a small orchestra to perform, and the choir also had a small role. For a long time, Monteverdi's operas were viewed only as historical and musical fact. Since the 1960s, the Coronation of Poppea has been revived in the repertoire of the world's major opera stages.

Monteverdi's work 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 imitative polyphony, characteristic of composers of the late Renaissance, and homophony, an achievement new era baroque. Monteverdi's innovation drew sharp criticism from the prominent music theorist Giovanni Artusi, in a polemic with whom Monteverdi (and his brother Giulio Cesare) outlined their commitment to the so-called “second practice” of music. According to the declaration of the Monteverdi brothers, the second practice reigns supreme in the music poetic text, to which all elements obey musical speech, first of all, melody, harmony and rhythm. It is the text that will justify any irregularities in the latter.

Claudio Monteverdi is an Italian Renaissance composer and a man who made a significant contribution to the development of the genre of opera. Working according to tradition early Renaissance and at the same time using the "basso continuo" characteristic of the Baroque period, he can be said to have built a bridge between two different eras in the history of music. Born in the mid-sixteenth century in the Lombardy region of Italy, he studied music with Marco Antonio Ingenieri at the local cathedral. The composer began writing religious and secular music early in his life, publishing his first work at the age of 15. At about 22 years old, Claudio began his career as a musician at the court in the city of Mantua. Later he moved to Venice. Remaining there until his death, Monteverdi wrote a lot of religious, as well as secular music. "La favola d'Orfeo", one of his first operas, is still performed regularly.

Claudio Monteverdi was born in 1567 (May 9) in Cremona, Lombardy, Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but church records state that the man was baptized on May 15, 1567. Officially, he was born a Spanish citizen, but he always considered himself Italian. His father, Baltasar Monteverdi, was a surgeon and apothecary, and his mother was the daughter of a goldsmith. Claudio was the eldest of six children in the family, with three brothers and two sisters. Giulio Cesare, the composer's brother, also became famous musician. Claudio lost his mother when he was eight years old. By that time, Baltasar Monteverdi had moved up the social ladder. In 1576 he married again. Claudio was emotionally close to his father, and this would influence many of his compositions in the future. My father was also musical. At least he appreciated the musical talent of his two sons, both of whom began studying music in the choir at the local cathedral. Claudio began training with Marco Antonio Ingenieri. His teacher was an internationally renowned composer and master of vocal style. Under his tutelage, Claudio not only learned to sing, but also developed the skill of playing the violin and other instruments.

Monteverdi began his career as a musician at the age of 15. He continued to write music into his 20s and had many works, both religious and secular. In 1589, Claudio left Cremona to become a musician at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. The Duke tried to create a center for music by appointing famous people from all over Europe with their court musicians. It was an ideal place for training, and the young Monteverdi was given the opportunity to participate in theatrical activities at court. In 1599 Claudio met French school modern music. In 1603 and 1605, he published two more madrigals out of nine, which presented real masterpieces. The musician used intense and prolonged dissonance, which attracted criticism from more conservative musicians, mainly Giovanni Maria Artusi. Very soon he concentrated on creating a practical philosophy of music, which found expression in his dramatic cantata of 1624 and comic opera 1627. Today Claudio Monteverdi is known as an important developer opera music. "La favola d"Orfeo" is probably his most popular work in this genre.

In 1599, Monteverdi's wife was Claudia Cattaneo, a singer at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga of Mantua. The couple had three children: two sons named Francesco and Massimiliano and a daughter, Leonora, who died in infancy. Claudia also died in September 1607. Monteverdi himself died on November 29, 1643, at the age of 76, in Venice. He was buried in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. His unpublished works were published after his death, in 1650. The following year saw the release of works such as canzonettas, which the musician wrote throughout his life.

MONTEVERDI (Monteverdi) Claudio (baptized 15.5.1567, Cremona - 29.11.1643, Venice), Italian composer. He studied with M. A. Ingenieri, the conductor of the Cremona Cathedral, and learned the traditions of choral polyphony (G. P. da Palestrina, O. Lasso, etc.). In 1582 he published a collection of 3-voice motets “Small Spiritual Songs” (“Sacrae cantiunculae”), in 1587 – the first collection of madrigals (5-voices). From 1590 (or 1591) chanter and violist (player on viole da gamba), from 1602 bandmaster at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua. In 1607, his first opera “Orpheus” was staged there (libretto by A. Strigio, based on the plot ancient Greek myth, set out mainly according to Ovid and Virgil). After the death of the Duke, Monteverdi moved to Venice and in 1613 took up the post of conductor. St. Mark's Cathedral, created 6 operas for Venetian opera houses. Author of 8 collections (“books”) of madrigals; late madrigals, especially from the 7th (1619) and 8th (1638) books, already related to Baroque aesthetics, can be called madrigals only conditionally - these are large-scale theatrical vocal and instrumental compositions “The Battle of Tancred and Clorinda” (text from “Jerusalem Liberated” by T. Tasso), balli (madrigals with dances) “Ball of Ungrateful Women” and “Tyrsis and Chlora”, duets, terzets and solo arias with basso continuo (for example, “The Complaint of a Nymph” for soprano and male terzetto, close opera stage). In 1651, under the title “Madrigals and Canzonettas, Book 9,” a collection of secular music by Monteverdi from different years was published (including 11 previously unpublished plays); The most valuable is the trio “Come dolce oggi l’auretta” (“How tender is the breeze now”) - the only surviving number from his opera “The Kidnapped Proserpina”. The most famous of the composer’s sacred music is “Vespers of the Blessed Virgin” (“Vespro della Beata Vergine” , 1610; its culmination is the Magnificat); Besides, Monteverdi wrote 3 masses (including “In illo tempore”) and motets - on the texts of the famous psalms “Dixit Dominus”, “Laudate Dominum omnes gentes”, “Beatus vir qui timet Dominum”, etc., as well as on the text antiphon "Salve regina" (3 different motets). 37 spiritual compositions were included in the large-scale collection “Selva morale e spirituale”, first published in Venice in 1640.

One of the first and largest opera composers in the history of music. Of Monteverdi's significant number of works in this genre (c. 15), three have been completely preserved: Orpheus, The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland (libretto by G. Badoaro based on Homer's Odyssey, Venice, Carnival 1639–40) and The Coronation of Poppea "(libretto by J. F. Busenello based on the Annals of Tacitus and other ancient sources, Venice, carnival 1642–43); from the opera “Ariadne” (Ducal Palace in Mantua, 1608), only the famous Lamento of Ariadne (or Lamentation of Ariadne) has survived.

main feature musical language Monteverdi - a combination (often in one work) of imitative polyphony, characteristic of Late Renaissance, and homophony as an achievement of the new Baroque era. Monteverdi considered himself the creator of a special emotional style: he found examples of “soft” and “moderate” styles in the works of his predecessors and “never encountered examples of an excited style” (stile concitato). Monteverdi believed what music should be able to convey human feelings and passions (anger, prayer, fear, etc.), including in conflict opposition; this manifested itself in musical characteristics his opera characters, for which he found individual intonations. Along with recitatives and arioses, in vocal parts his operas introduced developed solo and ensemble forms (Orpheus's Scene at the Gates of Hell, Ariadne's Lament, the virtuoso Duet of Nero and Lucan from the Coronation of Poppea), choral scenes (Seneca's Scene with the Disciples from the Coronation of Poppea), appeared for the first time in Orpheus overture ( original name"toccata"). Harmony M. combines the principles of modality and tonality, including in chromatic form. In the score of Orpheus, published in 1609, the composition of an opera orchestra was recorded for the first time in history; it combines basso continuo instruments and a large number of single-voice instruments (violins, zinc, trumpets) who participated in the performance of orchestral sections. Monteverdi was one of the first to convey various theatrical effects with the help of instrumentation: for example, in the pastoral scenes of the opera “Orpheus” he used strings, flutes, lutes, underground kingdom– zincs, trombones, regal.

Monteverdi's innovation met with misunderstanding among some of his contemporaries. The influential music theorist G. Artusi, in his treatise “On the Imperfections of Modern Music” (parts 1–2, 1600–03), criticized the composer (in particular, for his daring use of unprepared dissonances and chromatics). In a short preface to the 5th book of madrigals (1605), Monteverdi replied that he “has higher considerations regarding consonances and dissonances than those contained in the school rules.” After 2 years, Monteverdi’s brother, composer and organist Giulio Cesare Monteverdi (1573 - ca. 1630), in an extensive “Explanation of the letter printed in the 5th book,” clarified his brother’s musical and aesthetic position, while he used the concepts of “first practice” (prima pratica) and “second practice” (seconda pratica). According to him, for the “first practice” (its representatives are the great polyphonists of the past Josquin Despres, J. Okegem etc.) the mastery of composition technique was important as such, and the presentation of the text was not so significant, while the “second practice” (innovative madrigalists starting from C. de Rore and the creators theater music) requires that the text reign supreme in music, to which melody, harmony and rhythm are subordinate. Monteverdi also outlined his compositional ideas in the preface to the 8th book of madrigals (1638).

Interest in Monteverdi was revived in the 20th century, and his works were edited by V. d’Indy, E. Krzenek, J.F. Malipiero and others. Historical recordings of “Orpheus” were carried out by P. Hindemith (1954), A. Wenzinger (1955), “The Coronation of Poppea” - G. von Karajan (1963). “Vespers of the Blessed Virgin” (with the participation of valve wind instruments and “sensitive” operatic vocals) was recorded in 1966 in his own edition by R. Kraft. Since the late 1960s. Monteverdi's music is actively performed by representatives authentic performance. Representative selections of Monteverdi's madrigals were included in their live albums ensembles