Claudio Monteverdi

During his youth in Cremona, Monteverdi received his first musical training from Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, the maestro di cappella at the Cathedral. After making his name with his first publications, including his First Book of Madrigals, he moved to the Gonzaga court in Mantua in 1590: he remained in the service of the family for twenty-two years, first as singer and violist, and later as maestro di cappella. There he composed further books of madrigals and, with L'Orfeo in 1607, one of the earliest operas in the history of music. The Vespers of the Blessed Virgin were also written in Mantua in 1610. In 1613 became Monteverdi maestro di cappella at St Mark's in Venice. He spent thirty musically fruitful years in this post. He composed sacred works, but remained interested in secular music and published his most extensive secular collections with books six to eight of his Madrigals. After the opening of the Venice opera house in 1637, the first public opera house ever , he returned to composing opera once more: both of his late operas, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea received their first performances here.