List of operas by Claudio Monteverdi

A long, grey stone building with a line of arches at ground level, above which is a row of small windows interspersed with balconies. Above this row is a line of larger windows below a crenellated roof line.
The Ducal Palace in Mantua, where L'Orfeo was premiered in 1607

The Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) wrote several works for the stage between 1604 and 1643, including ten in the then-emerging opera genre. Of these, both the music and libretto for three are extant: L'Orfeo (1607), Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640) and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643). Seven other opera projects are known; four were completed and performed during Monteverdi's lifetime, while he abandoned another three at some point. The libretto has survived for some of these lost operas.

The opera genre emerged during Monteverdi's earlier career, first as courtly entertainment trying to revive Greek theatre.[1] The first known work to be regarded as an opera in the modern sense is Dafne (1598) by Jacopo Peri, and his Euridice (1600) is the earliest surviving one.[2] Since Monteverdi served as the court composer for the Gonzaga family from 1590 to 1612, he likely joined Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Florence for the 6 October 1600 premiere of Euridice.[3] While Monteverdi's own impressions of the work are unknown, the duke realised the potential of this new art form and sought to gain prestige from the patronage of it.[4] Therefore, he commissioned Monteverdi in late 1606 for a work which is now considered as the "birth of Western Opera",[5] L'Orfeo, on a libretto by Alessandro Striggio the Younger.[6]

In 1613 Monteverdi became maestro di cappella at St Mark's Basilica in Venice, where he continued to compose operas for the Gonzaga court and later for the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo.[7][8] The only two to survive are Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria on a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro and his final opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea, on a book by Giovanni Francesco Busenello. Seven of his operas are lost. Of these, L'Arianna, Andromeda, Proserpina rapita and Le nozze d'Enea con Lavinia were completed and performed during Monteverdi's lifetime. The other three lost operas, Le nozze di Tetide, La finta pazza Licori and Armida abbandonata, were never finished, so it is unknown how much music was completed, if any. For some of them, at least the libretto survived, by authors including Scipione Agnelli, Ercole Marigliani, Ottavio Rinuccini, Giulio Strozzi and Torquato Tasso.[9]

The term opera was not widely used until the late 17th century, so Monteverdi's musical stage works were known by various names such as favola in musica (musical fable), dramma in musica (musical drama), or tragedia in musica (musical tragedy).[1] Monteverdi was instrumental in developing and popularizing the genre for public musical theatre, his L'Orfeo is the earliest opera still regularly performed.[10][11]

  1. ^ a b Brown et al. 2001.
  2. ^ Sonneck 1913, p. 102.
  3. ^ Sternfeld 1986, p. 26.
  4. ^ Ringer 2006, p. 16.
  5. ^ Moller, Nathalie (24 February 2017). "L'Orfeo de Claudio Monteverdi est-il le premier opéra ?" [Is Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi the first ever opera?]. France Musique (in French).
  6. ^ Ringer 2006, pp. 16, 43.
  7. ^ Carter 2002, pp. 1–3.
  8. ^ Fabbri 1994, p. 2.
  9. ^ Carter 2002, pp. 298–305.
  10. ^ Ringer 2006, pp. 43.
  11. ^ "The Root Of All Opera: Monteverdi's 'Orfeo'". NPR. 8 January 2010.