Zieg ⦁ Monteverdi’s Orfeo 40 and ancient Greco-Roman ideals led to the creation of opera as seen specifically in Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Humanistic concepts were synthesized with new Renaissance musical traditions to create the grounding for opera in Monteverdi’s Orfeo. In order to examine Monteverdi’s use of Renaissance musical qualities in Orfeo, one must also survey his prior impactful compositions. In his early years as a composer, Monteverdi used the Renaissance polyphonic writing style to create what is known as the madrigal.5 A madrigal is a vocal work generally for two to five voices that is usually polyphonic and contrapuntal.6 His first book of madrigals was published in 1587 when the Renaissance was at its peak.7 These madrigals were put together in books such as Madrigali, libro primo, containing seventeen madrigals, and Il secondo libro de madrigali, containing twenty. These vocal works were the basis for Monteverdi’s career, and these writings served as a vehicle for his other compositions. Not only were they impactful musically, but they also held the Renaissance quality of humanism and the expression of emotion. Opera expert Silke Leopold explains, “The inner balance and the lively composure of this madrigal represent the culmination of the Renaissance spirit, the outcome of an emotional attitude towards life which derives its strength from the consciousness of having a fixed place in the universe.”8 Orfeo uses Monteverdi’s madrigal and contrapuntal style several times. For example, the chorus (coro di spiriti) at the end of Act III sings a madrigal for five voices that creates “one of the richest textures” in the entire opera.9 The madrigal is contrapuntal, but mostly homophonic with a few moments of polyphony in order to directly portray the text. Madrigals also contained an imitative feature called madrigalisms, in which striking musical moments depict the text almost literally.10 This was very effective in portraying the deep emotion present in opera. There is a madrigalism in Act II in “Ahi caso acerbo” with a diminished, dissonant chord on the word “acerbo,” which means bitter. Another musical development in the late Renaissance present in Orfeo is the basso continuo. The basso continuo is one or more low instruments playing the bass line, and then another instrument playing improvised 5 Ringer, 4. 6 Ringer, 5. 7 Ringer, 4–5. 8 Leopold, quoted by Ringer, 6. 9 Ringer, 73. 10 Burkholder, 218.
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