In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Claudio Monteverdi

Born: 1567. Died: 1643. Lived in: Italy
In Claudio Monteverdi's lifetime, Western art music stood at a crossroads. There were two major types of vocal music at that time: popular songs on mundane themes and music intended to accompany church services. The former group included fairly simple settings for solo voice and madrigals, which set music for two or more independent voice parts. Church music had evolved by the early 16th century into an elaborate polyphony. Josquin Desprez and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina were the foremost composers in this style, in which four or more parts develop musical lines from the tunes to popular and even bawdy songs. Each of the four or more parts wove these tunes together in a dense counterpoint, with no part assigned a primary melodic or harmonic function. The music displayed the consummate skills of their composers, and sounded breathtakingly beautiful when done by a capable choir. However, by the late 16th century, this type of contrapuntal music had become too difficult for most church choirs to sing and most parishioners to understand.

Arrangements | Recordings

Songbooks, Arrangements and/or Media

Displaying 1-2 of 2 items.

Claudio Monteverdi : Magnificat

The vocal score of Monteverdi's Magnificat, scored for double SATB chorus with Organ accompaniment. From Selva morale e spirituale, SV 281.

Claudio Monteverdi : Vespers (1610)

his 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.

Individual Folios

Displaying 1-6 of 6 items.

Walter Ehret : Adoramus Te

Arranger: Walter Ehret

Claudio Monteverdi : Cantate Domino

Jill Gallina : Cantate Domino

One of a number of short motets written by Italian composer, Claudio Monteverdi, this madrigal style for six voices has been set for SSA, carefully weaving selected vocal lines from the original to create this stylistically authentic edition using both energized and legato singing.

Arranger: Jill Gallina

Walter Ehret : Holy, Holy, Holy (Sanctus)

Arranger: Walter Ehret

Claudio Monteverdi : On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry

A simple, three-voice composition that has a straightforward, but lovely, accompaniment for keyboard and 2 C instruments (preferably strings or winds). Monteverdi's unexpected dissonances are a striking feature of this strophic piece.More music for small choirs

Ann Small : Pur Ti Miro

This beautiful duet from Monteverdi's opera L'Incoronazione di Poppea is a wonderful addition to the CME Opera Workshop series. This duet, which occurs at the end of the opera, beautifully illustrates Monteverdi's ability to interweave the vocal lines in a harmonically intriguing way. Ann Small's edition features an ornamented return of the first section of the duet with trills that contain repeated articulation of the same notes, a favored ornament in Monteverdi's works. Duration: ca. 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Arranger: Ann Small | Country: Italy