Sinfonia: instrumental excerpts from Poppea & Madrigal books VII and IX

Claudio Monteverdi
is probably the most famous Italian composer of the late 16th- and early
17th-century. His output marks the transition from the Renaissance style of
music to that of the Baroque. He became
maestro di capella at St. Mark’s in Venice in 1613, famously restoring the
musical standard of both the choir and orchestra, restocking the library and
recruiting new musicians. Although Monteverdi composed very little instrumental
music, his methods of instrumentation were considered well beyond his years and
his influence spread to those around him. Monteverdi’s epic opera L’incoronazione di Poppea is his last,
and perhaps greatest work. First performed in Venice in 1643, it established
the composer as the leading musical dramatist of his time. Madrigal book VII
was published in 1619 under the title Concerto,
while book IX did not appear until 1651, 8 years after the composer’s
death, and contains a mixture of lighter works dating from different periods
during Monteverdi’s lifetime.