Editing Claudio Monteverdi (section)

===Novice years: Madrigal books 1 and 2===
[[File:Luca conte Marenzio, Komponist des 16. Jahrhunderts.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Luca Marenzio]], an early influence on Monteverdi]]

[[Marc'Antonio Ingegneri]], Monteverdi's first tutor, was a master of the ''[[musica reservata]]'' vocal style, which involved the use of [[chromatic]] progressions and [[word-painting]];<ref>Fabbri (2007) p. 8</ref> Monteverdi's early compositions were grounded in this style.<ref name=Carter1/> Ingegneri was a traditional Renaissance composer, "something of an anachronism", according to Arnold,<ref>Arnold and Fortune (1968), p. 93</ref> but Monteverdi also studied the work of more "modern" composers such as [[Luca Marenzio]], [[Luzzasco Luzzaschi]], and a little later, Giaches de Wert, from whom he would learn the art of expressing passion.<ref>Arnold and Fortune (1968), p. 108</ref> He was a precocious and productive student, as indicated by his youthful publications of 1582–83. [[Mark Ringer]] writes that "these teenaged efforts reveal palpable ambition matched with a convincing mastery of contemporary style", but at this stage they display their creator's competence rather than any striking originality.<ref name= Ringer4>Ringer (2006), p. 4</ref> [[Geoffrey Chew (musicologist)|Geoffrey Chew]] classifies them as "not in the most modern vein for the period", acceptable but out-of-date.<ref name= ChewEW>Carter and Chew (n.d.), §7 "Early works"</ref> Chew rates the ''Canzonette'' collection of 1584 much more highly than the earlier juvenilia: "These brief three-voice pieces draw on the airy, modern style of the [[villanella]]s of Marenzio, [drawing on] a substantial vocabulary of text-related madrigalisms".<ref name= ChewEW/>

The [[canzonetta]] form was much used by composers of the day as a technical exercise, and is a prominent element in Monteverdi's first book of madrigals published in 1587. In this book, the playful, pastoral settings again reflect the style of Marenzio, while Luzzaschi's influence is evident in Monteverdi's use of [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonance]].<ref name= ChewEW/> The second book (1590) begins with a setting modelled on Marenzio of a modern verse, Torquato Tasso's "Non si levav' ancor", and concludes with a text from 50 years earlier: [[Pietro Bembo]]'s "Cantai un tempo". Monteverdi set the latter to music in an archaic style reminiscent of the long-dead [[Cipriano de Rore]]. Between them is "Ecco mormorar l'onde", strongly influenced by de Wert and hailed by Chew as the great masterpiece of the second book.<ref>Chew (2007), pp. 39–43</ref>

A thread common throughout these early works is Monteverdi's use of the technique of ''imitatio'', a general practice among composers of the period whereby material from earlier or contemporary composers was used as models for their own work. Monteverdi continued to use this procedure well beyond his apprentice years, a factor that in some critics' eyes has compromised his reputation for originality.<ref>Carter and Chew (n.d.), §6 "'Imitatio' and use of models"</ref>