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.
for: SSATTB Singstimmen und Basso continuo
Conductor score
Item no.: 1585046
für gemischten Chor (SSATB) a cappella (Basso continuo ad lib)
for: Mixed choir (SSATB); basso continuo ad lib.
Choir book
Item no.: 662045
Per Voce E Pianoforte
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 258655
Critical Edition
for: Mixed choir (5 voices), basso continuo
Music score (hardcover)
Item no.: 293969
mit 30 Abbildungen und zahlreichen Notenbeispielen
Große Komponisten und ihre Zeit 20
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 170738
mit 30 Abbildungen und zahlreichen Notenbeispielen
Große Komponisten und ihre Zeit 20
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 1667893
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
für 2 Sopran (Tenöre) und Bc
for: 2 voices (SS/TT), basso continuo
Score, Parts
Item no.: 663926
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 268
Urtext
for: Mixed choir (SSATTB) [6 voices], 2 violins, basso continuo; instruments colla parte ad lib.
Set of parts
Item no.: 666982
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 270
Urtext
for: Mixed choir (SSTTB) [5 voices], 2 violins, basso continuo; melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Set of parts
Item no.: 666987
BÄRENREITER URTEXT
for: Basso continuo (Bassus Generalis)
Stimme, Urtextausgabe
Item no.: 878596
for: für 2-stimmigen Frauen- oder Kinderchor (SA), Blockflöten, Streicher und Basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 133726
Set of parts
Item no.: 1629417
Favola in Musica
Eulenburg Studienpartituren
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 179929
Score
Item no.: 549830
for: Choir
Item no.: 1629448
for: Choir
Item no.: 613638
Favola in musica in one prologue and five acts
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 489943
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 172168
Item no.: 1629488
Set of parts
Item no.: 1629511
Vesperae Beatae Mariae Virginis
for: 6 soloists (SSATTB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, basso continuo
Harmony parts (complete winds)
Item no.: 578512
für Soli (TT), 2 Violinen, Instrumente ad libitum und Basso continuo
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 283
for: 2 voices (TT), 2 violins, basso continuo
Score, Parts
Item no.: 663381
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 275
Urtext
for: 2 mixed choirs (SATB, ATTB), basso continuo; 8 melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Set of parts
Item no.: 666995
Marienvesper SV 206
Urtext
for: 7 soloists (SSATTBB), mixed choir (SSATTB), orchestra, basso continuo
Single part Organ
Item no.: 676268
Trittico teatrale liberamente tratto da opere
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 351593
Sätze in hohen Schlüsseln
BÄRENREITER URTEXT
for: Soprane solo (2), Alt solo (Alte solo (2)), Tenöre solo (3), Bässe solo (2), Gemischter Chor:SSATTB, Gemischte Chöre (2):SATTB, Zink (3), Violinen (3), Violen (3), Cello, Kontrabass, Flöten (2), Blockflöten (2), Posaunen (3), Bass-Posaune (tief), (Orgel, Basso continuo)
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 873109
Item no.: 1629542
Opera regia with a prologue and three acts
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Voices, string orchestra, basso continuo
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 693016
Vesperae Beatae Mariae Virginis
for: 6 soloists (SSATTB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 409582
Vespro Della Beata Vergine
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 461346
Score
Item no.: 549867
Score
Item no.: 549869
in original clefs
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 549868
für fünf Singstimmen
Monteverdi-Gesamtausgabe Bd. 1
for: Mixed choir (5 parts) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 301131
Denkmaeler Der Tonkunst In Oesterreich~Dtoe 57
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 103449
Opera in un prologo e tre atti di
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 770163
Mark Foster
for: Instrumental Parts
Set of parts
Item no.: 1656239
Score
Item no.: 549816
Score
Item no.: 471895
Monteverdi-Rezeption und frühes Musiktheater im deutschsprachigen Raum
Perspektiven der Opernforschung 3
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 206659
Set of parts
Item no.: 1629430
Score
Item no.: 446347
Madrigali amorosi
Score
Item no.: 366530
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
für Alt, Tenor (Sopran), Bass und Bc
aus: Selva morale et spirituale
SV 284
Urtext
for: 3 voices, basso continuo
4 Scores, Single part Basso continuo
Item no.: 667409
Madrigali guerrieri
Score
Item no.: 549815
(Venezia 1587)
Complete Madrigals 1
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 446429
Score
Item no.: 1337386