1638: Monteverdi’s Madrigals of Love and War published

Madrigals of Love and War (Madrigali Guerrieri ed Amorosi) Claudio Monteverdi

Composed: 1608 to 1638 Published: 1638 First Performed: ? Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > chamber music

Rating: 4.702 out of 5.00 (average of 4 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: Monteverdi offered his first book of madrigals in 1587 when “the popularity of the genre of little vocal pieces had just reached its pinnacle.” CG He published six more collections of madrigals through 1619. The “madrigals are an important component of his early operas” CG and “serve as a kind of laboratory in which he can experiment mainly with the building of dramatic tension in music in connection with the text’s dramatic content.” CG However, his best-known book of madrigals, Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi (Madrigals of Love and War), was published in 1638 when Monteverdi was 71 years old and the music director of Venice’s ducal church of St. Mark’s. “The madrigals of the Eighth Book are for voices and instruments, developing further an Italian form with a hundred years of history.” MB It “was dedicated to Ferdinand III, the newly crowned Hapsburg Emperor in Vienna.” MB “The texts repeatedly expound the interlocking themes of love and war – the warrior as lover, the lover as warrior and the war between the sexes.” MB This was “the final collection of his secular music to be issued in his lifetime.” MB “This is an extensive collection of diverse compositions ranging from solo laments to vast eight-voice compositions with instrumental accompaniment.” CG It brought “together music written as early as 1608, and including one large work from 1624 and a variety of other compositions whose origins are unknown but which probably span the entire period 1619-1638.” MB The work “transformed a venerable genre – the Renaissance part song – into dramatic scenes that rival the flamboyant art of Caravaggio or Bernini. By updating an old musical form, Monteverdi created a repertoire that is both timeless and singular: few madrigals from any age hold a candle to these masterworks for multiple voices and instruments.” LH

Reviews: CG Collegium1704.com by Čeněk Svoboda, translated by Mark Newkirk LH arslyricahouston.org MB MagnificatBaroque.com by Jeffrey Kurtzman Related DMDB Links: First posted 2/22/2026.

July 1610: Monteverdi's 'Vespers' published

Last updated August 26, 2018.

Vespro Della Beata Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin) Claudio Monteverdi (composer) Composed: 1610 Published: July 1610 Sales: - NA - Peak: - NA -

Quotable: --

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Genre: classical > choral music

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Parts/Movements: 1) "Domine ad adiuvandum" for 6 voices, Mxiv 123 2) "Dixit Dominus" for 6 voices & 6 instruments, Mxiv 133 3) "Nigra sum sed formosa for 1 voice, Mxiv150 4) "Laudate, pueri, Dominum" for 8 voices & organ, Mxiv153 5) "Pulchra es, amica mea" for 2 voices, Mxiv170 6) "Laetatus sum" for 6 voices, Mxiv174 7) "Duo Seraphim clamabant" for 3 voices, Mxiv190 8) "Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum" for 10 voices, Mxiv198 9) "Audi, coelum, verba mea" for 1 voice & 6-part chorus, Mxiv227 10) "Lauda, Jerusalem, Dominum" for 7 voices, Mxiv237 11) "Sonata sopra 'Sancta Maria' ora pro nobis" for 1 voice & 8 instruments, Mxiv250 12) "Ave maris stella" for 2 voices, double chorus & 5 instruments, Mxiv250 13) "Magnificat" I for 7 voices, 9 winds, 2 violins & cello, Mxiv285 14) "Magnificat" II for 6 voices for organ, Mxiv327

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Average Length: 95:50

Review: “The historical interest of this work is almost as great as its inherent qualities. Vespers are part of the daily Offices, or Canonical Hours, of the church, music for the Offices including psalms (with antiphons), hymns, and canticles, as well as chanted lessons (with responsories). Although inspired by the Church Office, Monteverdi’s Vespers in many ways transcends the original concept, perfectly exemplifying the transition between austere Renaissance polyphony and sheer Baroque splendor. Monteverdi makes his characteristic contribution to sacred music in a bold, almost operatic, style, complete with daring stereophonic and echo effects, and includes a suite of instrumental dances, concerti sections for both voices and orchestra, and a love song. To what extent this is liturgical music is debatable in view of the choice of texts, which some in Monteverdi’s time considered blasphemous. Completed in 1610, the Vespers was written for the court of the Gonzaga family in Mantua, where Monteverdi was employed from 1590 to 1612, and dedicated to Pope Paul V. But the composition’s true home is undoubtedly the cathedral of St. Mark in Venice, where Monteverdi was appointed maestro di cappella in 1613. Indeed, the Vespers could well have been conceived with its echoing spaces, galleries, balconies, organ, and choir lofts in mind.” AMG “The sections contain striking contrasts, but the unity and continuity of Monteverdi’s grand design is maintained theatrically as well as musically. The overture, for choir and orchestra, is manifestly operatic, and close to that of Monteverdi’s first opera, Orfeo — an upsurge of joyous energy, interposed by an orchestral toccata and ending with a jubilant Alleluia. The instrumentation (cornets, sackbuts, a variety of single and double reeds, recorders, strings, organ, and harpsichord) is, with the exception of the instrumental ritornelli, mainly intended to contribute to the formal structure of the choral sections, coloring the choir in the manner of organ stops, as in the Dixit Dominus, Laetatus sum, Audi, coelum, and the beginning and end of the closing Magnificat, the climax of the whole work. The ways in which Monteverdi treats the cantus firmus by incorporating it into the counterpoint of the choral writing, as in ‘Dixit Dominus’ (Psalm 109), is not found in earlier choral literature, nor is the flowing, unfettered parlando (recitation) style used in Nigra sum, a metrically free poem with allusions to the biblical Song of Solomon. The concerto Due Seraphim is probably the most interesting section in the Vespers. It is set for two ‘answering’ voices — a sort of singing competition for angels — and almost exceeds the limits of human vocal technique. The choral writing is also demanding in its splendor and complexity, much of it in six, seven, and, as in the psalm Laudate pueri, eight parts; yet the simplicity of the two-part hymn Ave Maris stella is also among the many treasures of this magnificent work.” AMG “It has not been easy to arrive at satisfactory modern performing editions of the Vespers, and interpretations differ in important details. The title page of the first edition is inscribed ‘ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accomodata Opera’ (for use in princely rooms and chapels),’ but unfortunately several modern editors have attempted to regard it as a vast choral work, ignoring the comparatively small forces needed to realize its grandeur. This work was little known and not recorded until the 1930s, when musicologists and scholars, such as Nadia Boulanger, researched the puzzles and complexities of authentic Baroque performance.” AMG Review Source(s): AMG Roy Brewer, All Music Guide

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Today in Music (1607): Monteverdi's L'Orfeo performed for first time

L’Orfeo (Orpheus) Claudio Monteverdi

Composed: 1607 First Performed: February 24, 1607 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > opera > late Renaissance/early baroque

Parts/Movements: Prologo: 1) Tocatta 2) Ritornello-Dal mio Permesso amato Act 1: 1) "In questo lieto e fortunato giorno" - "Vieni, Imeneo" - "Muse, onor di Parnasso" 2) "Lasciate i monti" - "Ma tu, gentil cantor" 3) "Rosa del ciel" - "Io non dirò qual sia" - "Lasciate i monti" - "Vieni, Imeneo" 4) "Ma se il nostro gioir" - "Ecco Orfeo" Act 2: 1) Sinfonia - "Ecco pur ch'a voi ritorno" 2) "Mira che sé n'alletta" - "Dunque fa degni, Orfeo" 3) Ritornello-Vi ricorda o bosch'ombrosi 4) "Ahi, caso acerbo" - "In un fiorito prato" 5) "Ahi, caso acerbo" - "Ma io, che in questa lingua" 6) "Chi ne consola, ahi lassi?" - "Ahi, caso acerbo" Act 3: 1) Sinfonia - "Scorto da te, mio nume" - "Ecco l'atra palude" - "Dove, ah, dove te'n vai" 2) "O tu ch'innanzi morte" 3) "Possente spirto" 4) "Ben mi lusinga" - "Ahi, sventurato amante" - Sinfonia - "Ei dorme" 5) Sinfonia-Nulla impresa per huom Act 4: 1) Signor, quel infelice - Benché severo - O degli abitator - Quali grazie ti rendo - Tue soavi parole 2) Pietade, oggi, e amore - Ecco il gentil cantor 3) "Qual onor di te" - "O dolcissimi lumi" - "Rotto hai" 4) "Ahi, vista troppo dolce" - "Torn'a l'ombra -Dove ten vai" 5) Sinfonia-É la virtite un raggio Act 5: 1) Ritornello-Questi i campi di Tracia 2) Sinfonia-Perch'a lo sdegno ed al dolor 3) Ritornello-Vanne Orfeo felice a pieno 4) Moresca Average Duration: 1.75 to 2.5 hours

Rating: 4.626 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is “based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world.” WK “While Jacopo Peri's Dafne is generally recognised as the first work in the opera genre, and the earliest surviving opera is Peri's Euridice L'Orfeo is the earliest that is still regularly performed.” WK “By the early 17th century the traditional intermedio—a musical sequence between the acts of a straight play—was evolving into the form of a complete musical drama or "opera". Monteverdi's L'Orfeo moved this process out of its experimental era and provided the first fully developed example of the new genre.” WK “It was written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua.” WK It “was staged again in Mantua, and possibly in other Italian centres in the next few years. Its score was published by Monteverdi in 1609 and again in 1615. After the composer’s death in 1643 the opera went unperformed for many years, and was largely forgotten until a revival of interest in the late 19th century led to a spate of modern editions and performances. At first these performances tended to be concert (unstaged) versions within institutes and music societies, but following the first modern dramatised performance in Paris, in 1911, the work began to be seen in theatres. After the Second World War many recordings were issued, and the opera was increasingly staged in opera houses, although some leading venues resisted it. In 2007, the quatercentenary of the premiere was celebrated by performances throughout the world.” WK In his published score Monteverdi lists around 41 instruments to be deployed, with distinct groups of instruments used to depict particular scenes and characters. Thus strings, harpsichords and recorders represent the pastoral fields of Thrace with their nymphs and shepherds, while heavy brass illustrates the underworld and its denizens. Composed at the point of transition from the Renaissance era to the Baroque, L'Orfeo employs all the resources then known within the art of music, with particularly daring use of polyphony. The work is not orchestrated as such; in the Renaissance tradition instrumentalists followed the composer's general instructions but were given considerable freedom to improvise.” WK

Reviews: WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: First posted 8/26/2018; last updated 6/27/2025.