Editing Claudio Monteverdi (section)

====''L'Orfeo''====
{{Main|L'Orfeo}}
[[File:Frontispiece of L'Orfeo.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Frontispiece of Monteverdi's opera ''L'Orfeo'', Venice edition, 1609.]]

The opera opens with a brief trumpet [[toccata]]. The prologue of La musica (a figure representing music) is introduced with a ritornello by the strings, repeated often to represent the "power of music" – one of the earliest examples of an operatic [[leitmotif]].<ref>Grout (1971), p. 56</ref> Act 1 presents a pastoral idyll, the buoyant mood of which continues into Act 2. The confusion and grief which follow the news of Euridice's death are musically reflected by harsh dissonances and the juxtaposition of keys. The music remains in this vein until the act ends with the consoling sounds of the ritornello.<ref>Ringer (2006), pp. 63–64</ref>

Act 3 is dominated by Orfeo's aria "Possente spirto e formidabil nume" by which he attempts to persuade [[Charon|Caronte]] to allow him to enter Hades. Monteverdi's vocal embellishments and virtuoso accompaniment provide what Tim Carter has described as "one of the most compelling visual and aural representations" in early opera.<ref>Carter (1993)</ref> In Act 4 the warmth of Proserpina's singing on behalf of Orfeo is retained until Orfeo fatally "looks back".<ref name= H24>Harnoncourt (1969), pp. 24–25</ref> The brief final act, which sees Orfeo's rescue and metamorphosis, is framed by the final appearance of the ritornello and by a lively [[moresca]] that brings the audience back to their everyday world.<ref>Ringer (2006), p. 89</ref>

Throughout the opera Monteverdi makes innovative use of polyphony, extending the rules beyond the conventions which composers normally observed in fidelity to [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]].<ref>{{cite journal|last= Hull|first= Robert H.|title= The Development of Harmony|journal= The School Music Review|date= 15 September 1929|page=111}}</ref> He combines elements of the traditional 16th-century madrigal with the new monodic style where the text dominates the music and sinfonias and instrumental ritornellos illustrate the action.<ref>Ringer (2006), pp. 27–28</ref>