Biographical Composer Sketch
Name: Claudio Monteverdi
Born: 5/15/1967 Cremona, Italy
Died: 11/29/1643 Venice, Italy
Personal Life
Family: Father was Baldassare Monteverdi, a doctor, apothecary and surgeon; He was the oldest of five children; Married court singer Claudia Cattaneo; Two sons Francesco and Massimilino; 2 Daughters Leonora the other daughter died shortly after birth her name was Carulla.
Health and Physiognomy: Sporadic depression and anxiety after his wife’s death; During the last years of his life he was often sick.
Personality: Known to be a dramatic composer; Giovanni Maria Artusi, a well-known theorist, criticized Monteverdi for being a modernist.
Career
Significant Places: Chorister at The Cremona Cathedral where he studied; Court of Mantua; Court of Vincenzo I of Gonzaga; St. Mark's in Venice.
Employers or Patrons- Instructor Marc' Antonio Ingegneri; Vincenzo I of Gonzaga; Duke of Mantua; San Marco Cathedral in Venice.
Means of making living: Monteverdi worked for the court of Mantua first as a singer and violist, then rose to the post of Maestro Di Cappella. He worked at the court of Vincenzo I of Gonzaga in Mantua as a vocalist and viol player and later as the court conductor in 1602. Between 1587 and 1605 he published five volumes of Madrigals; First opera was Orfeo; 1608 he completed a second opera, Arianna; in 1632; He became a priest in the San Marco Cathedral in Venice- where he wrote both religious music and operas; Final opera L' Incoronazione di Poppea.;
Financial Situation- After his wife’s death he suffered from poverty until he was ordained a Catholic priest.
Music
Style of composition- Marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition: the heritage of Renaissance polyphony and the new basso continuo technique of the Baroque; Monteverdi wrote in a style that he called the seconda