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.
Score
Item no.: 549813
für Sopran (Tenor) und Bc
for: Voice (high), basso continuo
Music score
Item no.: 281996
for: Voice (high), basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 281997
für (Mezzo-)Sopran und B.c. (komplett) (complete)
for: GES-M BC
Score, Parts
Item no.: 278583
in freier Neugestaltung
for: Alt und Orchester
Piano reduction
Item no.: 741264
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score (facsimile hardcover)
Item no.: 363317
Score
Item no.: 549869
(Urtext)
for: Soloists, 2 mixed choirs (SSATTB, SATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 614408
mit beiden Versionen des Magnificat
Lauda und Magnificat sind eine Quarte abwärts transponiert
for: Soloists, 2 mixed choirs (SSATTB, SATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 657107
for: Voice (high), basso continuo
Music score
Item no.: 337928
Marienvesper SV 206
Urtext
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Study score
Item no.: 627381
Marienvesper
for: SSAATTTTBB, Orchester
Klavierauszug mit Continuo-Aussetzung
Item no.: 736362
Favola in musica in one prologue and five acts
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 489943
for: Voice, harpsichord [piano]
Songbook
Item no.: 258415
from Madrigali Guerrieri e Amorosi. Libro VIII
Set of parts
Item no.: 1204133
Motet
for: Singstimme und Klavier (Cembalo/Orgel)
Music score
Item no.: 748680
for: Soloists, 2 mixed choirs (SSATTB, SATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 477190
Favola in musica
Reprint of the first edition, Venice 1609 and from Act V of the Mantuan libretto 1607
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score (facsimile hardcover)
Item no.: 158594
Ausgabe im Marschbuchformat
for: Brass ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1544007
Favola in musica in one prologue and five acts
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 489942
for: Voice, guitar
Songbook
Item no.: 492525
for: SSAATTTTBB, Orchester
Klavierauszug
Item no.: 289252
for: Voice, guitar
Songbook
Item no.: 603021
for: Soloists, 2 mixed choirs (SSATTB, SATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 657090
for: 5 recorders (SSATB); basso continuo ad lib.
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 3156
for: 5 recorders (AATTB)
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 1072
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 270
Urtext
for: Mixed choir (SSTTB) [5 voices], 2 violins, basso continuo; melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Piano reduction
Item no.: 664042
for: Mixed choir (SATTB) [5 solo voices], basso continuo; 5 melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 666524
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 822621
for: 2 mixed choirs (SATB, ATTB), basso continuo; 8 melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 666655
for: Mixed choir (SSTTB) [5 voices], 2 violins, basso continuo; melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 664051
für Soli und Chor (STB), 2 Violinen und Basso continuo
aus: Selva morale et spirituale - SV 266
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), 2 violins, basso continuo
Piano reduction
Item no.: 667006
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 120473
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 302932
for: Mixed choir (SSAATTBB) [8 voices], 4 strings [brass winds], basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 662998
für Soli und Chor (SSAATTBB), 2 Violinen, Instrumente ad libitum und Basso continuo
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 264
Urtext
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), 2 violins, basso continuo
Piano reduction
Item no.: 666500
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Choir score
Item no.: 120656
Music, Context, Performance
print on demand
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 554306
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), instruments
Score
Item no.: 661166
for: 2 mixed choirs (SATB, ATTB), basso continuo; 8 melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 665324
for: 3 soloists (ATB), mixed choir (SSATB), basso continuo; 5 melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 664034
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 173526
for: SSATB and Organ Continuo
Choir score
Item no.: 896010
for: Mixed choir (SSATTB) [6 voices], 2 violins, basso continuo; instruments colla parte ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 662040
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), instruments
Score
Item no.: 665326
for: Mixed choir (SSATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1546388
für 2 Violinen und Bc 3 Spielpartituren
Musica Speciosa
for: 2 violins, basso continuo
Ensemble score
Item no.: 210678