Claudio Monteverdi
1567 – 1643 Italian composer
Composer who bridged the Renaissance and Baroque and whose L'Orfeo is among the first operas still performed.
- Religion
- Roman Catholic
- Affiliations
- Gonzaga court in Mantua, St Mark's Basilica in Venice
Claudio Monteverdi worked first at the Gonzaga court in Mantua and later as music director at St Mark's in Venice. His 1607 work L'Orfeo, telling the myth of Orpheus, is one of the earliest operas that still holds the stage, blending song, drama, and instrumental music into a single form. He wrote across the shift from the older polyphonic style to the newer, more emotional Baroque, defending music that served the meaning of the words.
In the timeline
- 1607 Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, an early opera composer