Although he was the son of a pharmacist and barber-surgeon, Claudio Monteverdi began to study music at an early age, and by the time he was 15 he had published a volume of three-part motets. In his mid-20s he was a string player in the small group of virtuoso musicians at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, and he accompanied Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga on trips that took him as far afield as Hungary and Flanders. In 1599 he married a court singer, Claudia Cattaneo; three children were born to them before her death in 1607. In 1600 Monteverdi's "modern" music was attacked for "irregularities" of harmony and counterpoint by a conservative theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi, but he defended himself, verbally and musically, and won even greater renown throughout Europe. In Mantua, where he became maestro di cappella (master of music) in 1601, he wrote his first two operas - L'Orfeo (Orpheus, first performed there in 1607), which has survived, and L'Arianna (Ariadne, first performed there in 1608), most of which has been lost - as well as the ballet Il ballo delle ingrate (1608), the Fourth (1603) and Fifth (1605) Books of Madrigals, the Scherzi musicali (1607), the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610) and much else, but he disliked the court and in 1608 asked to be released from his post. His request was denied, but in 1612, the duke's successor dismissed him and several other artists, apparently without warning.

In 1613, Monteverdi was appointed maestro di cappella of the Venetian Republic; he maintained this prestigious position for the rest of his life. As director of music at St. Mark's, he had about 30 singers and six players in regular employment, plus the boys of the choir school and up to 15 additional instrumentalists on festival days. Some experts believe that this was the largest musical establishment in Italy. Monteverdi increased his production of sacred compositions, in addition to writing four more books of madrigals, several operas (only two of which - Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria [The Return of Ulysses], first performed in Venice in 1640, and L'incoronazione di Poppea [The Coronation of Poppaea], first performed there in 1642 - have survived), the cantata Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, and many other works during his Venice years. He became a priest in 1632. On 29 November 1643, following a visit to his native Cremona, he died in Venice at the age of 76. In the words of the Monteverdi specialist Denis Arnold, the Italian composer's "greatest gifts lay in finding how traditional means could be applied to novel ends", and the durability of his works makes him "one of the most powerful figures in the history of music".

Harvey Sachs

Biographical notes (c) 1996, by permission of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

A selection of major works:

Vocal/Choral: Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, 9 Books of Madrigals, Motets, Scherzi musicali, Selva morale e spirituale, Vespro della Beate Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin)

Stage works: Ballets: Il ballo delle ingrate, Tirsi e Clori, Volgendo il ciel

Operas: L'Orfeo, L'Arianna, Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, L'incoronazione di Poppea