Claudio Monteverdi was active as a composer for almost six decades in the late 16th and early seventeenth centuries, essentially the period of period of transition from Renaissance to Baroque music. Much of Monteverdi's music was unpublished and is forever lost; the lists below include lost compositions only when there is performance history or other documentary evidence of the music's one-time existence.
In the "Voices/instrumentation" column of the chronological list, S= soprano, A= alto, T= tenor, Bar= baritone, B= Bass. The "SV" numbers are as per the Stattkus-Verzeichnis catalogue, first published in 1985 and revised in 2006.
Year [1] | Genre | SV number [1] | Title [1] | Voices/instrumentation [1] | Publication history [1] | Other information | Refs |
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1582 | Sacred | 207–229 | Sacrae cantiunculae, liber primus (23 pieces, details table A below) | 3 voices S, A and T | Monteverdi, Venice 1582 | ||
1583 | Sacred | 179–189 | Madrigali spirituali (11 pieces, details table B below) | 4 voices | Monteverdi, Brescia 1583 | Only bass partbook survives. Text: Fulvio Rorario | [2] |
1584 | Madrigal/song | 1–21 | Canzonette, libro primo (21 pieces, details table C below) | 3 voices using Treble, S, A and T combinations | Monteverdi, Venice 1584 | ||
1587 | Madrigal/song | 23–39 | Madrigali, libro primo (First Book of Madrigals, 17 pieces, details table D below) | 5 voices | Monteverdi, Venice 1587, repub. 1607, 1621 | Text: Battista Guarini, Giovanni Battista Strozzi, Giovanni Battista Bonardo and others | [2] |
1590 | Madrigal/song | 40–59 | Il secondo libro de madrigali (Second Book of Madrigals, 20 pieces, details table E below) | 5 voices | Monteverdi, Venice 1590, repub. 1607, 1621 | Texts: Torquato Tasso, Girolamo Casoni, Guarini and others | [3] |
1592 | Madrigal/song | 60–74 | Il terzo libro de madrigali (Third Book of Madrigals, 15 pieces, details table F below) | 5 voices | Venice 1592, repub. 1594, 1600, 1604, 1607, 1611, 1615, 1621 | Texts: Tasso, Guarini and others | [3] |
1594 | Madrigal/song | 309, 314, 324, 331 | Il primo libro delle canzonette a 3 voci (4 pieces, details table G below) | 3 voices using Treble, S, Bar, and B combinations | Morsolino, Venice 1594 | Texts: Scipio Cerreto and others | [3] |
1603 | Madrigal/song | 75–93 | Il quarto libro de madrigali (Fourth Book of Madrigals, 19 pieces, details table H below) | 5 voices | Monteverdi, Venice 1603, repub. 1605, 1607, 1611, 1615, 1622, 1644 | Texts: Tasso, Guarini, Ottavio Rinuccini and others | [4] |
1604–05 | Dramatic | Endimione (ballet) | Music and text lost | [4] [5] | |||
1605 | Madrigal/song | In nuovo fioretti a 3 voci | 3 voices SSB, basso continuo | Franzoni, Venice 1605 | |||
1605 | Madrigal/song | 94–106 | Il quinto libro de madrigali (Fifth Book of Madrigals, 13 pieces, details table I below) | Mainly 5 voices, basso continuo | Monteverdi, Venice 1603, repub. 1606, 1610, 1611, 1613, 1615, 1620, 1643. Jacobsen, Egtved 1985 | Texts: Guarini and others | [4] |
1607 | Dramatic | 318 | Orfeo (favola in musica) | Monteverdi, Venice 1609, repub. 1615. Tarr, Paris 1974 | Text: Alessandro Striggio. First perf. Mantua 24 February 1607 | [4] [5] | |
1607 | Dramatic | 245 | "De la belleza le dovute lodi" (ballet) | Venice 1609, repub. 1607 in Scherzi musicali | Text Striggio or Francesco Gonzaga | [4] [6] | |
1607 | Madrigal/song | 230–245 | Scherzi musicali (16 pieces, details table J below) | 3 voices, basso continuo, 2 violins | Monteverdi, Venice 1607 | Text: Gabriello Chiabrera, Ansaldo Cebà and others | [4] |
1608 | Dramatic | 291 | Arianna (tragedia in musica) | Text pub. Florence, Mantua, Venice 1608. | Text: Rinuccini. First perf. 28 May 1608. Music lost exc. Lamento d'Arianna SV22, pub. 1614 and 1623 | [7] [6] | |
1608 | Dramatic | Prologue to intermedio: "Ha cento lustri con etereo giri" | Text Chiabrera. First perf. 2 June 1608. Music lost. | [7] [8] | |||
1608 | Dramatic | 167 | Mascherato dell'ingrate (ballet) | Text pub. Mantua 1608 | Text: Riuccini. First perf. 4 June 1608. Rev. and pub. 1638 in Eighth Book | [7] [8] | |
1608 | Madrigal/song | 319, 329 | G. de Wert: Il duodecima libro de madrigali: "Pensier aspro e crudele"; "Sdegno la fiamma estinse" | Venice 1608 | Text: Orsina Cavaletta. Bass partbook only survives | [7] | |
1610 | Sacred | 205–206 | Sanctissimae Virgini missa senis vocibus... incl. Vespro della Beata Vergine (15 pieces, details table K below) | 10 voices, basso continuo, inst. ensemble | Venice 1610 | ||
1611 | Sacred | Dixit Dominus | 8 voices | Lost work (ref. Monteverdi letter 26 March ) | [7] | ||
1611 | Sacred | 2 motets | 2–5 voices | Lost work (ref. Monteverdi letter 26 March ) | [7] | ||
1614 | Madrigal/song | 107–116 | Il sesto libro de madrigali (Sixth Book of Madrigals, 10 pieces, details table L below) | 5–7 voices, basso continuo | Monteverdi, Venice 1614, repub. 1615, 1620, 1639 | Text: Rinuccini, Giambattista Marino and others | [7] |
1615 | Madrigal/song | 292 | Parnassus musicus Ferdinandeus...: Cantate Domino canticum novum | 2S, 2T, basso continuo | Bonornettti, Venice 1615 | ||
1616 | Dramatic | Tirsi e Clori (ballet) | Monteverdi, Venice 1619 (in Seventh Book) | Perf. January 1616 in Mantua | [9] [8] | ||
1616–17 | Dramatic | Le nozze di Tetide (favola marittima) | Text Scipione Agnelli. Project cancelled, music lost | [9] [10] | |||
1617 | Dramatic | 333 | Prologue to La Maddalena (sacre rappresentazione} | Venice 1617 in Musiche per La Maddelena | Text: Giovanni Battista Andreini. First perf. Mantua, March 1617 rev. Vienna 1629 | [9] [10] | |
1618 | Sacred | 328 | In Primo libra concerti ecclesiastici: "Sancta Maria succure miseria" | 2S, basso continuo | G.B. Ala, Milan 1618 | Text: Andreini. First perf. Mantua, March 1617 rev. Vienna 1629 | [9] |
1619 | Madrigal/song | 117–145 | Concerto: settimo libro de madrigali (Seventh Book of Madrigals, 29 pieces, details table M below) | 1–6 voices, basso continuo, instr. ensemble | Venice 1619, repub. 1622, 1623, 1628, 1641 | Text: Guarini, Marino, Chibrera, Tasso, Rinuccini and others | [9] |
1620 | Dramatic | Andromeda: favola in musica | Text pub. Mantua 1620 | Text: Ercole Marigliani. First perf. Mantua, betw. 1 and 3 March 1620. Music lost | [11] [10] | ||
1620 | Dramatic | Apollo (ballet) | Text Striggio. First perf. Mantua, betw. 1 and 3 March 1620. Text and music lost. | [11] [10] | |||
1620 | Sacred | 293, 294, 298, 289 | 4 motets in Libro primo de motetti in lode d'Iddio nostro Signore. Details table N below | 1–5 voices, basso continuo | G.C. Bianchi, Venice 1620 | ||
1620 | Sacred | 204 | "Laetaniae della Beata Vergine" | 6 voices, basso continuo | G.C. Bianchi, Venice 1620. Repub. 1626 and 1650 | ||
1621 | Sacred | Requiem for Grand Duke Cosimo II of Tuscany | Perf. Venice, SS Giovanni e Paolo, 25 May 1621. Music lost. | [11] | |||
1621 | Madrigal/song | 305, 312 | 2 pieces in Symbolae diversorum musicum: "Fuge anima mea mundum" and "O beate viae". | 2–5 voices, Bass continuo | Lorenz Calvi, Venice 1621 | ||
1622 | Dramatic | Contributions to prologue and 4 intermedi and licenza in La contesa di Amore e Cupido | Text pub. Mantua, 1620 | Text: Marigliani. Perf. 18 January 1622, ducal palace Mantua | [11] [12] | ||
1622 | Sacred | 313 | 1 piece in Promptuari musici concentus ecclesiasticos: "O bone Jesus, O pissime Jesu" | 2S, basso continuo | Donfried, Strasburg 1622 | ||
1623 | Madrigal/song | 22 | 1 piece in Il maggio fiorito arie, sonetti, madrigali: "Lasciatemi morire" (Lamento d'Arianna) | 1–3 voices, basso continuo | G.B. Rocchigiani, Orvieto 1623 | 5-section version of Lamento d'Arianna | [11] |
1623 | Madrigal/song | 22, 141, 142 | 3 monodic versions of Lamento d'Arianna | Solo voice, basso continuo | Monteverdi, Venice 1623 | ||
1623 | Madrigal/song | 249 | 1 piece in Madrigali e arie: "Ecco di dolci raggi il sol armsato" | Solo voice, basso continuo | G.B.Camarella, Venice 1623, repub. 1632 | ||
1624 | Sacred | 301, 335, 326 | 3 sacred songs in Seconda raccolta de' sacri canti a 1–4 voci: "Ego flos campi"; "Venite sitientes"; "Salve o regina" | 1–4 voices, basso continuo | Calvi, Venice 1624 | ||
1624 | Dramatic | 153 | Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda | Pub. in Eighth Book, 1638 | Text from Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata and Gerusalemme conquistata | [11] [12] | |
1624 | Madrigal/song | 315, 334 | 2 pieces in Madrigali del signor cavaliero Anselmi...: "O come vaghi" and "Taci Armelin, deh taci" | 2–5 voices, basso continuo | Venice, 1624 | Text: Giovanni Battista Anselmi | [13] |
1624 | Madrigal/song | 316, 310, 332 | 3 pieces in Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze...: "Ohimé ch'io cado, ohimé; La mia turca che d'amor; Si dolce è l tormento | Solo voice, basso continuo | C. Milanuzzi, Venice 1624 | ||
1625 | Sacred | 300 | 1 piece in Sacri affetti contesti da diversi eccelentissimi autori... : "Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat" | 2–4 voices, basso continuo | F. Sammaruco, Rome 1625 | ||
1625 | Sacred | 317, 297, 299, 327 | 4 pieces in Ghirlanda sacra scielta da diversi eccellentissimi...: "O quam pulchra es amica mea"; "Currite populi, psallite timpanis"; "Ecce sacrum paratum convivium"; "Salve regina" | Solo voice, basso continuo | L. Simonetti, Venice 1625 | ||
1626 | Sacred | 204 | 1 piece in Rosarium litanarium beatae V. Mariae: "Laetaniae della Beata Virgine | 6 voices, basso continuo | L. Calvi, Venice 1626, repub. 1650 | ||
1626 | Dramatic | Armida abbandonata (opera) | Text from Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata. Music lost. | [13] [14] | |||
1627 | Dramatic | La finta pazza Licori (opera) | Text: Strozzi. Music lost (if any written) | [13] [14] | |||
1627 | Sacred | 295 | 1 piece in Psalmi de vespere a 4 voci: "Confitebor tibi Domine" | 4 voices, basso continuo | G.M. Sabino da Turi, Naples 1627 | ||
1628 | Dramatic | Gli Argonauti (mascherata) | Text: Claudio Achillini. Music lost (if any written) | [13] [14] | |||
1628 | Madrigal/song | "La garda impoverir di pesci egregi" (part of sonnet cycle) | 2 voices, basso continuo | Perf. 8 April 1628. Text: Strozzi, music lost. | [13] | ||
1628 | Dramatic | Prologue and 5 intermedi for Teti e Flora | Text pub. Parma, 1629 | Perf. 13 December 1628. Text: Ascanio Pio di Savoia. Music lost. | [13] [14] | ||
1628 | Dramatic | Mercurio e Marte (tournament) | Text pub. Parma, 1629 | Perf. 21 December 1628. Text: Achillini. Music lost. | [13] [15] | ||
1629 | Sacred | 303, 304, 285 | 3 pieces in Quarta raccolta de sacri canti: "Exulta filia Sion"; "Exultent coeli et gaudeant angeli"; "Salve O Regina" | 1–5 voices, basso continuo, instr. ensemble | L. Calvi, Venice, 1629 | ||
1630 | Dramatic | 323 | Proserpina rapita (anatopismo) | Text pub. Venice, 1630 | Perf. 16 April 1630. Text: Strozzi. Music lost ex. canzonetta "Come dolce oggi l'auretta" | [13] [15] | |
1632 | Madrigal/song | 150, 246–51 | Scherzi musicali cioè arie...: 7 pieces, details table O below | 1–2 voices, basso continuo | Monteverdi, Venice, 1632 | Text: Rinuccini (SV251) and others. | |
1634 | Madrigal/song | 320, 321 | Arie di diversi: 2 pieces: "Perché, se m'odiavi"; "Più lieto il guardo" | Solo voice, basso continuo | A. Vincenti, Venice, 1634 | ||
1636 | Dramatic | 154 | "Volgendo il ciel per l'immortal sentiero" (ballet) | Pub in Eighth Book, 1638 | Text: Rinuccini | [16] [15] | |
1637 | Dramatic | A1 | Ballo del Monte Verde in Vero e facil modo l'imparare e sonare... (ballet) | P. Milioni and L. Monte, Rome and Macerata, 1637 | |||
1638 | Madrigal/song | 146–167 | Madrigali guerriri, et amorosi...Libro ottavo (Eighth Book of Madrigals, 22 pieces, details table P below | 1–8 voices, basso continuo, instr. ensemble | Monteverdi, Venice 1638 | Texts: Petrarch, Strozzi, Rinuccini, Marino, Guarini and others | [16] |
1640 | Dramatic | 325 | Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (opera) | Unpublished; music and text in MS | Perf. February 1640, Venice. Text: Giacomo Badoaro | [16] [17] | |
1640 | Dramatic | La nozze d'Enea e Lavinia (opera) | Perf. Carnival, 1640–41, Venice. Text: Michelangelo Torcigliani. Music lost. | [16] [17] | |||
1641 | Dramatic | Vittoria d'Amore (ballet) | Perf. 7 February 1641, Venice. Text: Bernardo Morando. Music lost. | [18] [17] | |||
1641 | Sacred | 252–288, 278a, 278b, 279a | Selva morale e spirituale : 43 pieces, details table Q below | 1–5 voices, choirs, basso continuo, violins, viole da braccio/tromb. | Monteverdi, Venice 1641 | ||
1643 | Dramatic | 308 | L'incoronazione di Poppea (opera) | Text pub. 1656. Music survives in two MS version | Perf. early February 1643, Venice. Text: Giovanni Francesco Busenello. | [19] [17] | |
1645 | Sacred | 336 | 1 item in Motetti a voci solae diversi esselentissimi autori...Libro primo.: "Venite videte martirem" | Venice 1645 | Published posthumously | [19] | |
1650 | Sacred | 190–204 | Messa et salmi:15 items, details table R below | 1–8 voices | Venice, 1650 | Published posthumously | [19] |
1651 | Madrigal/song | 168, 251, 149–150, 158–159, 169–178 | Madrigali e canzonette...Libro nono: (Ninth Book of Madrigals. 16 items, details table S below ) | Venice 1651 | Published posthumously | [19] | |
1651 | Sacred | 197, 302 | 2 items in Raccolta di motetti di Gasparo Casati... : "Laudate Dominum omnes gentes"; "En gratulemur hodie" | Venice 1651 | Published posthumously | [19] |
Source: Stattkus-Verzeichnis [20]
Tables A to S |
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Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was an Italian composer, string player, choirmaster, and priest. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history.
Vespro della Beata Vergine, SV 206, is a musical setting by Claudio Monteverdi of the evening vespers on Marian feasts, scored for soloists, choirs, and orchestra. It is an ambitious work in scope and in its variety of style and scoring, and has a duration of around 90 minutes. Published in Venice as Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus ac Vesperae pluribus decantandae, cum nonnullis sacris concentibus, ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accommodata, it is sometimes called Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610.
L'Orfeo, sometimes called La favola d'Orfeo[la ˈfaːvola dorˈfɛːo], is a late Renaissance/early Baroque favola in musica, or opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It 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. It was written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua. 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.
Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, SV 153, is an operatic scena for three voices by Claudio Monteverdi. The libretto is drawn from Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme Liberata. It was first performed in Venice in 1624, and printed in 1638 in Monteverdi's eighth book of madrigals. Monteverdi used musical features here for the first time to enhance the dramatic depiction of a battle in stile concitato, such as pizzicato and tremolo.
L'Arianna is the lost second opera by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. One of the earliest operas in general, it was composed in 1607–1608 and first performed on 28 May 1608, as part of the musical festivities for a royal wedding at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua. All the music is lost apart from the extended recitative known as "Lamento d'Arianna". The libretto, which survives complete, was written in eight scenes by Ottavio Rinuccini, who used Ovid's Heroides and other classical sources to relate the story of Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus on the island of Naxos and her subsequent elevation as bride to the god Bacchus.
The Stattkus-Verzeichnis (SV) is a catalogue of the musical compositions of the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. The catalogue was published in 1985 by Manfred H. Stattkus. A free, basic second edition of the catalogue is available online.
These lists show the audio and visual recordings of the opera L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi. The opera was first performed in Mantua in 1607, at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, and is one of the earliest of all operas. The first recording of L'Orfeo was issued in 1939, a freely adapted version of Monteverdi's music edited by Giacomo Benvenuti, given by the orchestra of La Scala Milan conducted by Ferrucio Calusio. In 1949 the Berlin Radio Orchestra under Helmut Koch recorded the complete opera, on long-playing records (LPs). The advent of LP recordings was, as Harold Schonberg later wrote, an important factor in the postwar revival of interest in Renaissance and Baroque music, and from the mid-1950s recordings of L'Orfeo have been issued on many labels. Koch's landmark version was reissued in 1962, when it was compared unfavourably with others that had by then been issued. The 1969 recording by Nicholas Harnoncourt and the Vienna Concentus Musicus, using Harnoncourt's edition based on period instruments, was praised for "making Monteverdi's music sound something like the way he imagined". In 1981 Siegfried Heinrich, with the Early Music Studio of the Hesse Chamber Orchestra, recorded a version which re-created the original Striggio libretto ending, adding music from Monteverdi's 1616 ballet Tirsi e Clori for the Bacchante scenes. Among more recent recordings, that of Emmanuelle Haïm has been praised for its dramatic effect. The 21st century has seen the issue of an increasing number of recordings on DVD.
Giovanni Gualberto Magli was an Italian castrato who had an active singing career during the first quarter of the 17th century. Born in Florence, he studied voice with Giulio Caccini before becoming a musician for the House of Medici on 23 August 1604. He participated in the world premiere of Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1607 at the court of Prince Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, portraying the roles of La Musica and Proserpina and possibly one other part. The musicologist and historian Hans Redlich mistakenly allocates Magli to the role of Orfeo. In 1608 he sang for the wedding festivities of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria. In October 1611 he was granted two years paid leave by Antonio de' Medici to pursue further studies in Naples. He left Medici service in 1615 to join the musicians at the court of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. He remained there until September 1622. He was buried in Florence on 8 January 1625.
Giovanni Maria Bacchini was an Italian castrato, composer, writer on music, and Roman Catholic priest who flourished during the late 16th century and early 17th century.
John Whenham is an English musicologist and academic who specializes in early Italian baroque music. He earned both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music from the University of Nottingham, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is a leading expert on the life and works of Claudio Monteverdi, and is the author of the books Duet and Dialogue in the Age of MonteverdiMonteverdi, 'Orfeo' , Monteverdi, Vespers (1610), and The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi. For five years he was co-editor of the journal Music & Letters. He currently serves on the board of the Birmingham Early Music Festival and was head of the music history department at the University of Birmingham.
The Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), in addition to a large output of church music and madrigals, wrote prolifically for the stage. His theatrical works were written between 1604 and 1643 and included operas, of which three—L'Orfeo (1607), Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640) and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643)—have survived with their music and librettos intact. In the case of the other seven operas, the music has disappeared almost entirely, although some of the librettos exist. The loss of these works, written during a critical period of early opera history, has been much regretted by commentators and musicologists.