The operas of Monteverdi

Author / Creator

Monteverdi, Claudio, 1567-1643

Available as

Physical

Summary

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 th...

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. The first masterpiece of opera is Monteverdi's version of Orpheus, the legend celebrating the power of music and the triumph of song over death itself, and it dates from 1607. Composed for the court of Mantua, where Monteverdi was employed, it is very different in aesthetic from his two other surviving operas which he wrote more than thirty years later to entertain the Venetian audiences in the first public opera houses. All three are masterpieces, establishing their authors as among the greatest opera-writers of all time: Orfeo was long considered untranslatable because the text is so closely tied to the music, and the Venetian librettos owe some of their brilliance to the influence of Spanish Golden Age theatre. This opera guide is an opportunity to read all three of Monteverdi's major stage works together, in Anne Ridler's graceful translations. Iain Fenlon introduces the most recent research on Monteverdi and opera, and the other articles are devoted to the very different dramatic character of each work. During this century, and particularly in the last thirty years, these scores havce been rediscovered and brought to life in many different ways: Jeremy Barlow has compiled the views of the composers, musicologists and performers who have contributed to this continuing debate about authenticity and drama.

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