Claudio Monteverdi
Until the age of forty, Monteverdi worked primarily on madrigals, composing a total of nine books. It took Monteverdi about four years to finish his first book of twenty-one madrigals for five voices. As a whole, the first eight books of madrigals show the enormous development from Renaissance polyphonic music to the monodic style typical of Baroque music. The titles of his Madrigal books are: Book 1, 1587: Madrigali a cinque voci Book 2, 1590: Il secondo libro de madrigali a cinque voci Book 3, 1592: Il terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci Book 4, 1603: Il quarto libro de madrigali a cinque voci Book 5, 1605: Il quinto libro de madrigali a cinque voci Book 6, 1614: Il sesto libro de madrigali a cinque voci Book 7, 1619: Concerto. Settimo libro di madrigali Book 8, 1638: Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi con alcuni opuscoli in genere rappresentativo, che saranno per brevi episodi fra i canti senza gesto. Book 9, 1651: Madrigali e canzonette a due e tre voci The Fifth Madrigal Book[edit] Cruda Amarilli Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. Problems playing this file? See media help. The Fifth Book of Madrigals shows the shift from the late Renaissance style of music to the early Baroque. The Quinto Libro (Fifth Book), published in 1605, was at the heart of the controversy between Monteverdi and Giovanni Artusi. Artusi attacked the "crudities" and "license" of the modern style of composing, centering his attacks on madrigals (including Cruda Amarilli, composed around 1600) (See Fabbri, Monteverdi, p. 60) from the fourth book. Monteverdi made his reply in the introduction to the fifth book, with a proposal of the division of musical practice into two streams, which he called prima pratica, and seconda pratica. Prima pratica was described as the previous polyphonic ideal of the sixteenth century, with flowing strict counterpoint, prepared dissonance, and equality of voices. Seconda pratica used much freer counterpoint with an increasing hierarchy of voices, emphasizing soprano and bass. In Prima pratica the harmony controls the words. In Seconda pratica the words should be in control of the harmonies. This represented a move towards the new style of monody. The introduction of continuo in many of the madrigals was a further self-consciously modern feature. In addition, the fifth book showed the beginnings of conscious functional tonality. The Eighth Madrigal Book[edit] Posthumous portrait medallion of Monteverdi, etching by Barberis, (Associazione Amici della Raccolta Bertarelli, Milan). While in Venice, Monteverdi also finished his sixth (1614), seventh (1619), and eighth (1638) books of madrigals. The eighth is the largest, containing works written over a thirty-year period. Originally the work was to be dedicated to Ferdinand II, but because of his ill health, his son was made king in December 1636. When the work was first published in 1638 Monteverdi rededicated it to the new King Ferdinand III. The eighth book includes the so-called Madrigali dei guerrieri et amorosi (Madrigals of War and Love). The important preface of Monteverdi’s eighth madrigal book seems to be connected with his seconda pratica. He claims to have invented a new "agitated" style (Genere concitato, later called Stile concitato). The book is divided into sections of War and Love each containing madrigals, a piece in dramatic form (genere rappresentativo), and a ballet. In the Madrigals of War, Monteverdi has organized poetry that describes the pursuits of love through the allegory of war; the hunt for love, and the battle to find love. In the second half of the book, the Madrigals of Love, Monteverdi organized poetry that describes the unhappiness of being in love, unfaithfulness, and ungrateful lovers who feel no shame. In his previous madrigal collections, Monteverdi usually set poetry from one or two poets he was in contact with through the court where he was employed. The Madrigals of War and Love represent an overview of the poets he has dealt with throughout his life; the classical poetry of Petrarch, poetry by his contemporaries (Tasso, Guarini, Marino, Rinuccini, Testi and Strozzi), or anonymous poets who Monteverdi found and adapted to his needs. Madrigals of War Bronze bust of Monteverdi at Public Gardens John Paul II, in Cremona. Altri canti d’Amor tenero arciero (Let others sing of Love, the tender archer) anonymous sonnet is preceded by a sinfonia introduction that is written for two violins and four viols. The madrigal that follows serves as an introduction to the first half of the collection and as a dedication to Ferdinand III. Hor che’l ciel e la terra e’l vento tace (Now that the sky, earth and wind are silent) Sonnet by Petrarch, is the first significant poetic work of the collection in which Monteverdi splits into two sections. In the first section, his poetry introduces the idea of