Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was an Italian composer, string player, and choirmaster whose works span the transition from Renaissance polyphony to early Baroque opera and concertato style. He is regarded as a central figure in Western music history for his contribution to the development of opera as a dramatic form.

Monteverdi was baptised on May 15, 1567, in Cremona, the son of apothecary and amateur surgeon Baldassare Monteverdi. He studied with Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, maestro di cappella at Cremona Cathedral, and published his first collection of sacred madrigaletti at the age of fifteen. His first book of secular madrigals appeared in 1587.

From around 1591 he served at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, eventually becoming maestro della musica in 1601. There he composed L'Orfeo, performed in 1607, the earliest opera still part of the standard repertoire. The same period produced his Vespro della Beata Vergine, published in 1610, a monumental setting of vespers psalms and Marian texts.

In 1613 he was appointed maestro di cappella at St Mark's Basilica in Venice, a position he held until his death. There he wrote sacred works, ballets, and the late operas Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640) and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643). He took holy orders as a priest in 1632. He died in Venice on November 29, 1643, aged 76, and was buried in the Frari basilica.

His name Claudio derives from the Italian form of Latin Claudius, a Roman family name from claudus meaning "lame." Claudio has been a common given name in Italy since the medieval period.