Claudio Monteverdi

Books about Claudio Monteverdi and his music

Nikolaus Harnoncourt The Musical Dialogue : Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart Amadeus Press, 2003; ISBN 1574670239; 220 pages This collection of lectures, talks and essays focuses on three major composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Price indication: $ 10.47

John Whenham and Julian Rushton Monteverdi: Vespers (1610) (Cambridge Music Handbooks) Cambridge University Press, 1997; ISBN 0521459796; 152 pages Monteverdi's Vespers is an exceptional collection of sacred music, both in the inventiveness of the compositions that it contains and in the debate that it has provoked over its use in the seventeenth century and over Monteverdi's intentions in publishing it. This handbook provides all the information that the reader needs for an in-depth appreciation of the musical settings themselves, of the debate that surrounds the original intention of the volume and of the problems of performing the music today. The book includes the texts and plainsongs used by Monteverdi, and a discography. Price indication: $ 21.99

Bonnie Gordon Monteverdi's Unruly Women : The Power of Song in Early Modern Italy (New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism) Cambridge University Press, 2005; ISBN 0521845297; 244 pages Price indication: $ 80.00

Denis Arnold The Monteverdi Companion W W Norton & Co (Sd), 1972; ISBN 0393006360; 340 pages Price indication: $ 16.28

Gary Tomlinson Monteverdi and the End of the Renaissance University of California Press, 1990; ISBN 0520069803; 292 pages Combining a close study of Monteverdi's secular works with recent research on late Renaissance history, Gary Tomlinson places the composer's creative career in its broad cultural context and illuminates the state of Italian music, poetry, and ideology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Price indication: $ 24.95

Massimo Ossi Divining the Oracle : Monteverdi's Seconda prattica University Of Chicago Press, 2003; ISBN 0226638839; 280 pages Claudio Monteverdi's historical position in music has been compared to that of Shakespeare in literature: almost exact contemporaries, each worked from traditional beginnings to transform nearly every genre he attempted. In this book, Massimo Ossi delves into the most significant aspect of Monteverdi's career: the development, during the first years of the seventeenth century, of a new compositional style he called the seconda prattica or "second manner." Challenged in print for the unconventional aspects of his music, Monteverdi found himself at the center of a debate between defenders of Renaissance principles and the newest musical currents of the time. The principles of the seconda prattica , Ossi argues in this sophisticated analysis of Monteverdi's writings, music, and approaches to text-setting, were in fact much more significant to the course of Monteverdi's career than previously thought by modern scholars-not only did Monteverdi continue to pursue their aesthetic and theoretical implications for the rest of his life, but they also affected his dramatic compositions as well as his chamber vocal music and sacred works. Ossi "divines the oracle" of Monteverdi's ambiguous theoretical concepts in a clear way and in terms of pure music; his book will enhance our understanding of Monteverdi as one of the most significant figures in western music history. Price indication: $ 50.72

John Whenham and Richard Wagner Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) Cambridge University Press, 1986; ISBN 0521284775; 232 pages A detailed study of the earliest opera to have gained a foothold in the modern repertoire, the book begins with a historical section in which all the known evidence about the creation and early performances of Orfeo is drawn together and evaluated. The second section of the book includes a detailed history of the rediscovery of the opera; an influential essay by Joseph Kerman is reprinted here, together with a review by Romain Rolland of the first modern performance of Orfeo. The final section includes essays by a conductor and a producer who have staged notable performances of the opera in recent years. They explain their approaches to the work, and offer solutions to some of the problems it poses in performance. Price indication: $ 31.99

Tim Carter Monteverdi's Musical Theatre Yale University Press, 2002; ISBN 0300096763; 336 pages Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is well known as the composer of the earliest operas still performed today. His Orfeo, Il retorno d’Ulisse in patria, and L’incoronazione di Poppea are internationally popular nearly four centuries after their creation. These seminal works represent only a part of Monteverdi’s music for the stage, however. He also wrote numerous works that, while not operas, are no less theatrical in their fusion of music, drama, and dance. This impressive book is the first to survey Monteverdi’s entire output of music for the theater – his surviving operas, lost operas, and other dramatic musical compositions. Tim Carter, a leading Monteverdi expert, begins by charting the progress of early opera from the north Italian courts to the "public" theaters of Venice. He places Monteverdi’s stage works in the broader context of early seventeenth-century theatrical endeavor and explores crucial questions of genre, interpretation, and performance practices both then and now. Taking a pragmatic view of how the works were brought to life in the theater and how they were seen in their own time, Carter discusses the complex modes of production that involved a range of artists, artisans, creators, and performers. With insightful commentary on the composer’s individual works and on the cultural and theatrical contexts in which they were performed, Carter casts new light on Monteverdi’s remarkable achievement as a man of the theater. Price indication: $ 50.00

Jeffrey Kurtzman The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610: Music, Context, Performance Oxford University Press, 2000; ISBN 0198164092; 624 pages 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. Price indication: $ 125.00

Claudio Monteverdi The Operas of Monteverdi (Opera Guide) Riverrun Pr, 1992; ISBN 0714542075; 208 pages The English National Opera Guides were originally conceived in partnership with the English National Opera and edited by Nicholas John, the ENO's dramaturg, who died tragically in an accident in the Alps. Most of the guides are devoted to a single opera, which is described in detail—with many articles that cover its history and information about the composer and his times. The complete libretto is included in both the original language and in a modern singing translation—except where the opera was written in English. Each has a thematic guide to the most important musical themes in musical notation and each guide is lavishly illustrated. They also contain a bibliography and a discography which is updated at each reprint. The ENO guides are widely regarded as the best series of their kind and excellent value. Price indication: $ 13.95

Denis William, Stevens Monteverdi: Sacred, Secular, and Occasional Music Associated Univ Pr, 1978; ISBN 0838619371; 147 pages Price indication: $ 28.50

Claudio Monteverdi and Denis Stevens The Letters of Claudio Monteverdi Clarendon Pr, 1995; ISBN 0198164149; 480 pages 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. Price indication: $ 282.27

Hans Ferdinand Redlich Claudio Monteverdi, life and works Greenwood Press, 1970; ISBN 083714003X; 210 pages Price indication: $ 9.95

Denis Arnold Monteverdi Madrigals (BBC Music Guides) Gloucester, 1996; ISBN 0563205555; 64 pages Price indication: $ 72.07

Henry Prunieres Monteverdi; his life and work Dover Publications, 1972; ISBN 0486227707; 293 pages Price indication: (used only): from $ 4.75

Denis Arnold Monteverdi (Master Musicians Series) J M Dent & Sons Ltd, 1975; ISBN 0460031554; 212 pages Price indication: (used only): from $ 24.57

Leo Schrade Monteverdi: Creator of Modern Music (Da Capo Press Music Reprint Series) Da Capo Press, 1979; ISBN 0306795655; 384 pages Price indication: (used only): from $ 6.42

Denis Arnold and Nigel Fortune The New Monteverdi companion Faber and Faber, 1985; ISBN 0571131484; 361 pages Price indication: (used only): from $ 14.75

Denis Arnold Monteverdi Church Music Olympic Marketing Corp, 1983; ISBN 0295959231 Price indication: (used only): from $ 4.00

Iain Fenlon and Peter N. Miller The Song of the Soul : Understanding Poppea (Royal Musical Association Monographs, No 5) Royal Musical Association, 1992; ISBN 0947854045; 112 pages Price indication: $ 67.35

Sheet music, libretti, etc.

Madrigals, Books IV and V - Dover Publications
secular madrigals representing "the peak of the music that Monteverdi produced in the first half of his life" (Grove’s Dictionary) are essential to the repertoire of serious vocal students. Amateurs and professionals alike will enjoy the new English translations printed alongside the most reliable Italian text. Preface and translations by Stanley Appelbaum.<br>

Madrigals: Book VIII (Madrigali Guerrieri Et Amorosi) - Dover Publications
All madrigals from one of the Baroque master’s most popular books, reprinted from authoritative Italian edition. New preface, new English translations of the original prefatory material and the Italian texts printed in poem form facing new English line-for-line literal translations.<br>

Monteverdi: Ten Madrigals for Mixed Voices - Oxford University Press

Vespro Della Beata Vergine =: Vespers (1610) (Oxford Choral Works) - Oxford University Press
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.<br>Complete performing material is available on hire, and a Critical Commentary is available for sale from the hire library.