Claudio Monteverdi

Born in Cremona, where he undertook his first musical studies and compositions, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua () and then until his death in the Republic of Venice where he was ''maestro di cappella'' at the basilica of San Marco. His surviving letters give insight into the life of a professional musician in Italy of the period, including problems of income, patronage and politics.
Much of Monteverdi's output, including many stage works, has been lost. His surviving music includes nine books of madrigals, large-scale religious works, such as his ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' (''Vespers for the Blessed Virgin'') of 1610, and three complete operas. His opera ''L'Orfeo'' (1607) is the earliest of the genre still widely performed; towards the end of his life he wrote works for Venice, including ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' and ''L'incoronazione di Poppea''.
While he worked extensively in the tradition of earlier Renaissance polyphony, as evidenced in his madrigals, he undertook great developments in form and melody, and began to employ the basso continuo technique, distinctive of the Baroque. No stranger to controversy, he defended his sometimes novel techniques as elements of a ''seconda pratica'', contrasting with the more orthodox earlier style which he termed the ''prima pratica''. Largely forgotten during the eighteenth and much of the nineteenth centuries, his works enjoyed a rediscovery around the beginning of the twentieth century. He is now established both as a significant influence in European musical history and as a composer whose works are regularly performed and recorded. Provided by Wikipedia
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7by Caccini, Giulio, Peri, Jacopo, 1561-1633, Carissimi, Giacomo 1605-1674, Monteverdi, Claudio, 1567-1643, Steffani, Agostino, 1654-1728, Michna z Otradovic, Adam Václav, 1600-1676, Schütz, Heinrich, 1582-1672, Lully, Jean Baptiste, 1632-1687, Purcell, Henry, 1659-1695, Händel, Georg Friedrich, 1685-1759
Published 1966Audio -
8by Monteverdi, Claudio, 1567-1643, Černohorský, Matej Bohuslav, Dvořák, Antonín, 1841-1904, Čajkovskij, Pëtr Il´jič, 1840-1893, Donati, Baldasare, Janáček, Leoš, 1854-1928, Domanský, Hanuš, Blažek, Zdeněk, Moyzes, Alexander, 1906-1984, Sviridov, Georgij Vasiľjevič, 1915-1998, Ščedrin, Rodion, 1932-, Šostakovič, Dmitrij Dmitrijevič, 1906-1975, Moyzes, Mikuláš, 1872-1944
Published 1984Audio -
9by Brade, Wilhelm, 1560-1630, Halle, Adam de la, 1204-1286, Dufay, Guillaume, 1400-1474, Tomkins, Thomas, 1572-1656, Peri, Jacopo, 1561-1633, Monteverdi, Claudio, 1567-1643, Rameau, Jean Philippe, 1683-1764, cesti, Marc´ Antonio, 1618-1741, Fux, Johann Joseph, 1660-1741, Gabrieli, Giovanni, 1557-1612, Speer, Daniel Georg, 1636-1707
Published 1980Audio