Product Description
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was the first great opera composer and is often hailed as the creator of modern music. His genius was often likened to that of Mozart, Wagner, and Verdi, but in many of the world's opera houses his operas often receive an almost chilly respect, far removed from the nearly universal love aroused by those later masters. This book, the first layperson's guide to Monteverdi, seeks to stimulate appreciation for his operas by examining them not as musicological relics but as the vital theatrical experiences they are. Ringer places Monteverdi's operatic works within the musical and theatrical framework of his era, offering a brief sketch of the composer's early years and detailing the complex forces that led to the emergence of opera in late sixteenth-century Florence. Opera's First Master enables opera lovers to see and hear Monteverdi's masterpieces anew, while opening new channels of inquiry into how Monteverdean opera "works" in the theater. HARDCOVER. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Opera's First Master:Unlocking the Masters, No. 8
This is a good book with engaging and thorough review of each of his operas.The reviews are so detailed that it would be outstanding study for any team planning to perform these operas.A moderate list of references is provided with references noted in the text.There is a good index.There is a recording with excerpts from recent performances.The thing I like best about this book is that all the CD, DVD and book references include very recently released works so this book is very up-to-date.

knowledgeable, encompassing introducton to this composer's works
The author who is an Associate Professor of Theater at Marymount College supports his belief that "Claudio Moneteverdi (1567-1643) was the first great opera composer" by commentaries on his operas scene by scene. Ringer follows the narrative line (such as it is in opera) and profiles the characters while explaining the role and effects of the music and words on these. Introductory parts give a biography of Monteverdi focusing on his distinctive creative genius and viewing him in the context of the development of opera in Florence in late Renaissance Italy. The CD contains 13 selections from Monteverdi operas; which are annotated in back matter. Ringer's accessible treatment of this outstanding and influential composer is an ideal introduction and companion to Monteverdi's operas.

Covers his Life and his Three Great Works
In part this book is a short biography of Monteverdi. And in part it discusses his place as the originator of opera as we know it today. But mostly it's about the three surviving operas that he wrote: L'Orfeo (Orpheus, 1607), Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland, 1640), and L'incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea, 1643). The stated purpose of the book is not to treat these works as merely a part of operatic history, but explaining the vital theatrical experiences that they are.

Each of the three operas gets a complete description including the history, the nature of the roles, and of course a summay of the story.

The book includes a CD that has significant excerpts from the three operas.

This book is part of a series called Unlocking the Masters that covers the work of our most important composers. The whole series is excellent, bringing us a concise yet complete story that is both informative and easy to read.

Verdi for everyone
I love this series (besides Verdi, it has Wagner, Mozart, Haydn, etc.)Being able to hear the music as you read about it makes a huge difference, and the text is written in an accessible way.It breaks the stereotype of Classical music being staid and boring.
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Product Description
This edition is designed to meet the needs of both the scholar and the performer. It contains the complete music of all fourteen compositions as in Monteverdi's original print, plus the psalm 'Lauda Jerusalem' and the two Magnificats in a choice of pitches. Also provided are a continuo realization, notes on performance, Gregorian antiphons for the feasts of the Virgin, and examples of typical early seventeenth-century embellishments.
Complete performing material is available on hire, and a Critical Commentary is available for sale from the hire library. ... Read more

Product Description
Claudio Monteverdi is one of the most important figures of 'early' music, a composer whose music speaks powerfully and directly to modern audiences. This book provides an up-to-date and authoritative treatment of Monteverdi and his music, complementing Paolo Fabbri's standard biography of the composer. Written by leading specialists in the field, it is aimed at students, performers and music-lovers in general and adds significantly to our understanding of Monteverdi's music, his life, and the contexts in which he worked. Chapters offering overviews of his output of sacred, secular and dramatic music are complemented by 'intermedi', in which contributors examine individual works, or sections of works in detail. The book draws extensively on Monteverdi's letters and includes a select discography/videography and a complete list of Monteverdi's works together with an index of first lines and titles. ... Read more

Product Description
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was the first important composer of opera. This innovative study by one of the foremost experts on Monteverdi and seventeenth-century opera examines the composer's celebrated final works--Il ritorno d'Ulisse (1640) and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642)--from a new perspective. Ellen Rosand considers these works as not merely a pair but constituents of a trio, a Venetian trilogy that, Rosand argues, properly includes a third opera, Le nozze d'Enea (1641). Although its music has not survived, its chronological placement between the other two operas opens new prospects for better understanding all three, both in their specifically Venetian context and as the creations of an old master. A thorough review of manuscript and printed sources of Ritorno and Poppea, in conjunction with those of their erstwhile silent companion, offers new possibilities for resolving the questions of authenticity that have swirled around Monteverdi's last operas since their discovery in the late nineteenth century. Le nozze d'Enea also helps to explain the striking differences between the other two, casting new light on their contrasting moral ethos: the conflict between a world of emotional propriety and restraint and one of hedonistic abandon. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the fullest edition of Monteverdi's letters yet to appear in any language, presenting each of his 126 known letters in English translation.Spanning the years 1601-1643, the letters give an unrivalled picture of the life of a busy composer at one of the most exciting and crucial periods in music history.This new edition incorporates numerous corrections and a great deal of new material. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the only extensive study of the Monteverdi Vespers, vastly expanding on the author's 1978 set of essays on the subject, long since out of print. The volume studies the Vespers from the standpoint of its musical and liturgical origins and context, presents analytical essays on the music, and examines seventeenth-century performance practice as it pertains to the Vespers. Appendices include bibliographies and an analytical discography. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the first collection of Claudio Monteverdi's "Madrigal and Song" texts published in parallel Italian and English versions. Denis Steven's unique anthology ranges across four centuries of verse for music. More than thirty poets, old and new, famous and obscure, are represented here, many for the first time in English. Enthusiasts and scholars of the music and its period will be extremely interested in finding out what the poems Monteverdi set to music really mean. The keys Stevens uses in his translations come from a lifetime's work devoted to Monteverdi and his contemporaries. ... Read more