Monteverdi and Opera

By 1633, Monteverdi, although advanced in age, was a prolific composer. His name and publications were famous throughout Europe. During this period Monteverdi also set out to prepare a musical treatise, in which he hoped to make clear to the musical world the theories that formed the basis of his seconda prattica, or second practice.

In 1633, Monteverdi was still music director at St. Mark's, Venice, a post he had held since 1613. By the 1630s, Monteverdi had even become a priest; in a letter regarding a legal matter, he writes, "I come therefore to Your Excellencies' feet not as Claudio Monteverdi the priest . . . but as Director of Music, whose authority deriving from the royal hand of the Most Serene Republic . . . " In addition to building St. Mark's choral repertoire and fulfilling his duties with regard to special music for state occasions, Monteverdi also indulged his interest in secular and dramatic music. Monteverdi's last years in Venice witnessed further successes in the field of opera.

In all, Monteverdi wrote eight operas, the music of only a few of which have survived. The operas correspond to specific periods in the composer's life.

. . .
ot experienced much programmed musical theater. The first public opera was performed in this year, by a company of musicians who rented a Venetian theater. The following year, and the year after, the company presented other operas. Meanwhile, a competing company set up a rival opera. Soon theaters were being built exclusively for the performance of opera: "So although theatre which was entirely sung came late to Venice, it met with immediate and unprecedented success: it effectively replaced spoken drama not just in the favour of the public, but literally in the theatres where spoken drama had previously been given." Operas, which had previously been staged at irregular intervals, soon became a seasonal custom. Numerous theaters were open at the same time. Competition forced theater operators to maintain a professional class of composers, musicians, singers, dancers, set designers and the like. Operatic standards were set: "The practice of dividing operas into three acts became the custom in Venice." The Venetian public's taste for songs encouraged composers to include more of them in their operas albeit many continued to demonstrate a reticence for including too much music. Composers recognized the need to walk a
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