This Italian composer was born in Cremona in 1567 to a mother who died during his childhood and a father whose profession, barber-surgeon, was not quite legal. It was probably from his father that Claudio got the idea that rules were not always set in stone and that they usually get better if you bend them. He did, however, receive a good, traditional musical education under the maestro di capellaof the Cathedral at Cremona near which his family lived. During his teens, he managed to publish his first book of motets and his first book of sacred madrigals. Some might even call him precocious. By the time he turned 20, he decided it was time for him to leave Cremona and two years later he ended up at the court of the Gonzaga family at Mantua.
He was never particularly happy in Mantua, but he shared valuable experiences and met valuable people. His first job was primarily performance oriented, but he still had time for composing on the side. During this period, Monteverdi’s reputation began to develop and he started to hang out with Giaches de Wert, a Flemish modernist composer that had a great impact on Monteverdi’s music. Wert used innovative techniques such as matching the music to the mood of the verse, charging the music with high emotions, and employing an angular melody and dissonant harmonies that eventually found their way into Monteverdi’s own style.
Around 1600, Artusi published criticisms of Monteverdi’s music that generally pointed out flaws in Monteverdi’s counterpoint. These criticisms actually had the opposite effect than Artuzi had intended. They made Monteverdi famous, a leading exponent of the modern approach. Instead of giving up music and ending his career, Monteverdi responded with a counterattack, arguing for a new kind of music that he refered to as the second practice, or secunda prattica. After that, his life became very hectic, but as a consequence, very productive:
By this time, he had solved the purely musical problems that text painting had wrought, but he was overworked and depressed. He requested a change, but was fired instead in 1612. He went to Venice.
He became the new maestro di capella at St. Mark’s in Venice where he introduced many new administrative innovations. As well as his new organizational duties, he was also composing and making an unprecedented amount of money. He couldn’t have been happier.
From 1629 to the end of his life, he was less of a composer. However, in 1638 and 1641, he published two huge volumes of music. During the last four years of his life, he composed three new operas (including L’Incoronazione) and 1 ballet. He died in Venice in 1643. Of L’Incoronazione, Harnoncourt says,
What is truly astonishing, however, is the intellectual freshness with
which Monteverdi, at 74 years of age and just two years before his
death, was able to surpass his students in the most modern style, setting
standards which would remain the touchstone of the musical theater for
centuries to come (138).