BaroqueClaudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona, Italy, a town famous for its violin-makers.
Claudio Monteverdi’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1567👶 Birth
Born in Cremona; baptised on 15 May
- 1582🎼 Workage 15
Publishes his first collection at 15
- 1590🎩 Careerage 23
Viol player at the Gonzaga court in Mantua
- 1599❤️ Private lifeage 32
Marries the singer Claudia Cattaneo
- 1600🏛️ Landmarkage 33
The theorist Artusi attacks his dissonances
- 1600🌍 Meanwhile
Shakespeare writes Hamlet (c. 1600)
- 1601🎩 Careerage 34
Chapel master to the Duke of Mantua
- 1605🎼 Workage 38
Fifth Book of Madrigals: he defends the ‘seconda pratica’
- 1607🎼 Workage 40
L’Orfeo, premiered in Mantua on 24 February
- 1609🌍 Meanwhile
Galileo observes the sky with his telescope
- 1637🌍 Meanwhile
The first public opera house opens in Venice
- 1643🕯️ Deathage 76
Dies in Venice on 29 November
- 1643🌍 Meanwhile
Louis XIV becomes King of France aged four
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona, Italy, a town famous for its violin-makers. At only fifteen he already published his first music!
He worked for a duke in Mantua. There he created one of the very first operas, L’Orfeo: the story of Orpheus, a musician who goes down to the Underworld to bring back his wife. The singers act, the orchestra plays, people dance: a real show!
Later he became head of music at the great St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. To imitate a battle he asked the violins to repeat the same notes very fast, like galloping horses, and to pluck the strings with their fingers.
When he was very old he was still writing operas for the very first opera house open to the public.
Claudio Monteverdi’s instruments
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