Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is an Italian composer, who is perhaps the most well-known composer to precede J.S Bach. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore the wide world of Divino Claudio with Stretta Music today!
Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona in 1567, the same year Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina published the “Missa papae Marcelli”, a good example of the austere style imposed upon musicians by the Church at the time. Monteverdi was a pupil of Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, the choir master of Cremona Cathedral. His compositional talent was soon recognised, and at the age of 15 he published the “Sacrae cantiunculae”, compositions for three voices, at 16 the “Madrigali spirituali” and at 17 the “Canzonette”. In 1589, at the age of 22, he joined the Court of Mantua as a viola player, and in 1603 he became Maestro di Cappella. Ten years later, in 1613 he moved to Venice, to take up the same position at St. Mark’s Basilica, where he stayed until his death in 1643.
In Monteverdi’s “First Book of Madrigals” from 1587, one can already find progressive harmonic and melodic elements that break tradition, but it is his “Fifth Book of Madrigals” from 1605, that really marks the transition between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods. It was through his harmonic and melodic experimentation that Monteverdi coined the stile concitato, as seen in his famous “Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda” from 1624.
Divino Claudio, as Claudio Monteverdi is often referred to in Italy, is best known as the inventor of musical melodrama. Although he wrote at least 18 operas, only “L’Orfeo”, 1607, the aria “Lamento d’Arianna” from “L’Arianna”, 1608, “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria”, 1640, and the “Incoronazione di Poppea”, 1643, have been preserved.
Interesting that Monteverdi chose to write “L’Orfeo” as one of his first theatrical works, the “Fable in Music” dedicated to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is said to be the first work in the history of music, and it is the same story that ends an era, namely with “Orpheus” by Gluck. According to Claudio Toscani, Orpheus is “the first real protagonist in the history of modern musical theatre”, and with him the history of opera really began.
Contemporary musicologists have devoted much attention to Monteverdi and his compositions. Gian Francesco Malipiero commissioned the publication of Opera Omnia to “spread the works of one of Italy’s true geniuses” and “to show once again how great manifestations of art always remain modern’.
The Monteverdi Festival takes place in Cremona every year, where the Fondazione Claudio Monteverdi, which is dedicated to the critical editions of his work, is located.
A fresh rose is regularly placed at the tomb of Claudio Monteverdi in the Basilica dei Frari di Venezia.
Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda
for: für 1, 2, 3, 6 oder 8 Singstimmen und Instrumente
Partitur
Item no.: 124509
2 Trompeten, Horn, Posaune & Tuba
for: Brass quintet
Sheet music
Item no.: 596995
SATB
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 984865
Möseler Chorreihe
for: Mixed choir (SSATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 333965
Nr. 15 aus "Il quarto libro de madrigali"SV89
for: 5 Stimmen (SSATB) a cappella
Chorpartitur
Item no.: 142470
for: Mixed choir, basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 623427
aus Libro primo de Motetti, ed. G. C. Bianchi 1620
for: Mixed choir (SSATTB), basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 1338194
Motette für fünf Stimmen und Basso continuo
Breitkopf Urtext
for: Mixed choir (SATTB), basso continuo
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 680147
7. Che se tu se’ il cor mio - Seconda parte
for: SSATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1629588
6. Anima mia, perdona - Prima parte
for: SSATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1629462
9. La piaga c’ho nel core
for: SAATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1204142
1. Ch’ami la vita mia nel tuo bel nome
for: SSATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1204106
18. Donna s’io miro voi, giaccio divengo
for: SSATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1629682
10. Quell’ombr’esser vorrei
for: SAATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1629681
for: Choir
Item no.: 1629448
mit 30 Abbildungen und zahlreichen Notenbeispielen
Große Komponisten und ihre Zeit 20
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 170738
Madrigali amorosi
Score
Item no.: 549793
Ballo a 5 con doi Violini from Madrigali Guerrieri e Amorosi. Libro VIII, Venezia 1638
for: 5 Gesang (SSATB), 2 Violinen und Basso continuo
Item no.: 1629446
from Madrigali. Libro VI, Venezia 1614
for: 5 Gesang (SSATB) und Basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 1204135
Sestina from Madrigali. Libro VI, Venezia 1614
for: 5 Gesang (SSATB) und Basso continuo
Set of parts
Item no.: 1204112
Score
Item no.: 446201
1.3 Dove, dove è la fede (Lamento d’Arianna - Terza parte)
for: Mixed choir (SSATB), basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 1629659
15. Troppo ben può questo tiranno Amore!
for: SAATB Chor und Basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 1629639
11. Ma tu, più che mai dura - Terza e ultima parte
for: Mixed choir (SSATB), basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 1629605
20. Piagn’e sospira: e quand’i caldi raggi
for: SSATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1629435
2. O Mirtillo, Mirtill’anima mia
for: Mixed choir (SSATB), basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 1204145
1.1 Lasciatemi morire (Lamento d’Arianna - Prima parte)
for: Mixed choir (SSATB), basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 1204105
10. Almo divino raggio - Seconda parte
for: SSATB Chor
Choir score
Item no.: 1629766
for: für gemischten Chor (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1135095
Love Duet from Monteverdis last opera "L'Incoronazione di Poppea"
Choral Music Experience
for: Women's choir (2 parts), piano
Score
Item no.: 630233
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 935109
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Choir score
Item no.: 131826
for: Opera Libretto
Book
Item no.: 907340
for: 5 recorders (SSATB)
Score
Item no.: 418662
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 461346
for: Mixed choir, basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 179323
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Piano reduction
Item no.: 630275
Fontana Di Musica 22
for: 5 instruments
Item no.: 210153
for: Mixed choir (SSATTB), basso continuo
Book (critical commentary)
Item no.: 424986
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 275
Urtext
for: 2 mixed choirs (SATB, ATTB), basso continuo; 8 melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 666992
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 270
Urtext
for: Mixed choir (SSTTB) [5 voices], 2 violins, basso continuo; melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 666986
aus Il secondo libro de madrigali 1590
for: SSATB
Score
Item no.: 1338205
Madrigal-Zyklus
for: Mixed choir (SSATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1654906
Marienvesper SV 206
Urtext
Partitur im Leinenumschlag
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Score (Hardcover)
Item no.: 658832
for: Brass ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1128506
for: 2 flutes, piano
Book
Item no.: 994078
aus "Selva morale e spirituale" (1640/1)SV267
for: für 5 Stimmen und Basso continuo oder Sopran, gemischter Chor (SATB) 4 Violen und Basso continuo
Chorpartitur
Item no.: 313985
Gesamtausgabe
for: 1-7 Singstimmen und Instrumente
Partitur
Item no.: 330566