Editing Claudio Monteverdi (section)

===Venice: 1613–1643===
====Maturity: 1613–1630====
[[File:Veneza47.jpg|thumb|right|The basilica of [[St Mark's Basilica|San Marco]], Venice]]

Martinengo had been ill for some time before his death and had left the music of San Marco in a fragile state. The choir had been neglected and the administration overlooked.<ref name= Stevens83/> When Monteverdi arrived to take up his post, his principal responsibility was to recruit, train, discipline and manage the musicians of San Marco (the ''capella''), who amounted to about 30 singers and six instrumentalists; the numbers could be increased for major events.<ref name= Fabbri128>Fabbri (2007), pp. 128–129</ref> Among the recruits to the choir was [[Francesco Cavalli]], who joined in 1616 at the age of 14; he remained connected with San Marco throughout his life, and developed a close association with Monteverdi.<ref name=Cavalli>Walker and Alm (n.d.)</ref> Monteverdi also sought to expand the repertory, including not only the traditional ''[[a cappella]]'' repertoire of Roman and Flemish composers, but also examples of the modern style which he favoured, including the use of [[basso continuo|continuo]] and other instruments.<ref name= Fabbri128/> Apart from this he was of course expected to compose music for all the major feasts of the church. This included a new [[Mass (Catholic Church)|mass]] each year for [[Holy Cross Day]] and Christmas Eve, [[cantata]]s in honour of the Venetian [[Doge (title)|Doge]], and numerous other works (many of which are lost).<ref>Fabbri (2007), pp. 134–135</ref> Monteverdi was also free to obtain income by providing music for other Venetian churches and for other patrons, and was frequently commissioned to provide music for state banquets. The [[Procurator of San Marco|Procurators of San Marco]], to whom Monteverdi was directly responsible, showed their satisfaction with his work in 1616 by raising his annual salary from 300 [[ducat]]s to 400.<ref name=Carter3 />

The relative freedom which the Republic of Venice afforded him, compared to the problems of court politics in Mantua, are reflected in Monteverdi's letters to Striggio, particularly his letter of 13 March 1620, when he rejects an invitation to return to Mantua, extolling his present position and finances in Venice, and referring to the pension which Mantua still owes him.<ref>Stevens (1995), pp. 188–194</ref> Nonetheless, remaining a Mantuan citizen, he accepted commissions from the new Duke Ferdinando, who had formally renounced his position as Cardinal in 1616 to take on the duties of state. These included the ''[[Ballo#The baroque ballo|balli]]'' ''Tirsi e Clori'' (1616) and ''Apollo'' (1620), an opera ''[[Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi#Andromeda (1618–20)|Andromeda]]'' (1620) and an ''[[intermedio]]'', ''[[Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi#Le nozze di Tetide (1616–17)|Le nozze di Tetide]]'', for the marriage of Ferdinando with [[Catherine de' Medici, Governor of Siena|Caterina de' Medici]] (1617). Most of these compositions were extensively delayed in creation – partly, as shown by surviving correspondence, through the composer's unwillingness to prioritise them, and partly because of constant changes in the court's requirements.{{refn|Monteverdi's letters provide a detailed account of the various procrastinations and delays.<ref>Stevens (1995), pp. 106–150</ref>|group=n}} They are now lost, apart from ''Tirsi e Clori'', which was included in the seventh book of madrigals (published 1619) and dedicated to the Duchess Caterina, for which the composer received a pearl necklace from the Duchess.<ref name=Arnold516 /><ref name=Carter3 /><ref>Arnold (1980a), p. 531</ref> A subsequent major commission, the opera ''[[Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi#La finta pazza Licori|La finta pazza Licori]]'', to a libretto by [[Giulio Strozzi]], was completed for Fernando's successor [[Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua|Vincenzo II]], who succeeded to the dukedom in 1626. Because of the latter's illness (he died in 1627), it was never performed, and it is now also lost.<ref name=Arnold516 />

[[File:Monteverdiletter.jpg|thumb|left|Letter from Monteverdi to Enzo Bentivoglio in Ferrara, 18 September 1627, ([[British Library]], MS Mus. 1707), discussing the composer's ''intermezzo, Didone ed Enea''<ref>See Stevens (1995), pp. 370–373.</ref>]]

Monteverdi also received commissions from other Italian states and from their communities in Venice. These included, for the Milanese community in 1620, music for the Feast of [[St. Charles Borromeo]], and for the [[Florence|Florentine]] community a [[Requiem Mass]] for [[Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Cosimo II de' Medici]] (1621).<ref name=Carter3 /> Monteverdi acted on behalf of Paolo Giordano II, Duke of [[Bracciano]], to arrange publication of works by the Cremona musician Francesco Petratti.<ref>Stevens (1995), pp. 151–153</ref> Among Monteverdi's private Venetian patrons was the nobleman Girolamo Mocenigo, at whose home was premiered in 1624 the dramatic entertainment ''[[Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda]]'' based on an episode from [[Torquato Tasso]]'s ''[[La Gerusalemme liberata]]''.<ref>Carter (2007) "Musical sources", p. 29</ref> In 1627 Monteverdi received a major commission from [[Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma|Odoardo Farnese]], Duke of [[Parma]], for a series of works, and gained leave from the Procurators to spend time there during 1627 and 1628.<ref name=Arnold516 />

Monteverdi's musical direction received the attention of foreign visitors. The Dutch diplomat and musician [[Constantijn Huygens]], attending a Vespers service at the church of SS. Giovanni e Lucia, wrote that he "heard the most perfect music I had ever heard in my life. It was directed by the most famous Claudio Monteverdi&nbsp;... who was also the composer and was accompanied by four [[theorbo]]s, two [[cornett]]os, two bassoons, one ''basso de viola'' of huge size, organs and other instruments&nbsp;...".<ref>Wistreich (2007), p. 261</ref> Monteverdi wrote a mass, and provided other musical entertainment, for the visit to Venice in 1625 of the [[Władysław IV Vasa|Crown Prince Władysław]] of Poland, who may have sought to revive attempts made a few years previously to lure Monteverdi to Warsaw.<ref name=Carter3 /> He also provided chamber music for [[Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg]], when the latter was paying an incognito visit to Venice in July 1625.<ref>Stevens (1995), p. 345</ref>

Correspondence of Monteverdi in 1625 and 1626 with the Mantuan courtier Ercole Marigliani reveals an interest in [[alchemy]], which apparently Monteverdi had taken up as a hobby. He discusses experiments to transform lead into gold, the problems of obtaining [[mercury (element)|mercury]], and mentions commissioning special vessels for his experiments from the glassworks at [[Murano]].<ref>Stevens (1995), pp. 289–301</ref>

Despite his generally satisfactory situation in Venice, Monteverdi experienced personal problems from time to time. He was on one occasion – probably because of his wide network of contacts – the subject of an anonymous denunciation to the Venetian authorities alleging that he supported the Habsburgs. He was also subject to anxieties about his children. His son Francesco, while a student of law at [[University of Padua|Padua]] in 1619, was spending in Monteverdi's opinion too much time with music, and he, therefore, moved him to the [[University of Bologna]]. This change did not have the desired result, and it seems that Monteverdi resigned himself to Francesco having a musical career – he joined the choir of San Marco in 1623. His other son Massimiliano, who graduated in medicine, was arrested by the [[Roman Inquisition|Inquisition]] in Mantua in 1627 for reading [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|forbidden literature]]. Monteverdi was obliged to sell the necklace he had received from Duchess Caterina to pay for his son's (eventually successful) defence. Monteverdi wrote at the time to Striggio seeking his help, and fearing that Massimiliano might be subject to torture; it seems that Striggio's intervention was helpful. Money worries at this time also led Monteverdi to visit Cremona to secure for himself a church [[Canon (priest)|canonry]].<ref name=Carter3>Carter and Chew (n.d.), §3 "Venice"</ref><ref>Stevens (1995), p. 402</ref>

====Pause and priesthood: 1630–1637====
A series of disturbing events troubled Monteverdi's world in the period around 1630. [[War of the Mantuan Succession|Mantua was invaded by Habsburg armies]] in 1630, who besieged the [[1629–1631 Italian plague|plague-stricken town]], and after its fall in July looted its treasures, and dispersed the artistic community. The plague was carried to Mantua's ally Venice by an embassy led by Monteverdi's confidante Striggio, and over a period of 16 months led to over 45,000 deaths, leaving Venice's population in 1633 at just above 100,000, the lowest level for about 150 years. Among the plague victims was Monteverdi's assistant at San Marco, and a notable composer in his own right, [[Alessandro Grandi]]. The plague and the after-effects of war had an inevitable deleterious effect on the economy and artistic life of Venice.<ref>Norwich (1983), pp. 537–540</ref><ref name =Wenhamxx>Whenham (2007) "Chronology", p. xx</ref><ref name=Arnold617>Arnold (1980c), p. 617.</ref> Monteverdi's younger brother Giulio Cesare also died at this time, probably from the plague.<ref name = Ab534/>

By this time Monteverdi was in his sixties, and his rate of composition seems to have slowed down. He had written a setting of Strozzi's ''[[Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi#Proserpina rapita (1630)|Proserpina rapita]] ([[Persephone#Abduction myth|The Abduction of Proserpina]])'', now lost except for one vocal trio, for a [[House of Mocenigo|Mocenigo]] wedding in 1630, and produced a Mass for deliverance from the plague for San Marco which was performed in November 1631. His set of ''Scherzi musicali'' was published in Venice in 1632.<ref name=Carter3 /> In 1631, Monteverdi was admitted to the [[tonsure]], and was ordained [[deacon]], and later [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priest]], in 1632. Although these ceremonies took place in Venice, he was nominated as a member of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Cremona|Diocese of Cremona]]; this may imply that he intended to retire there.<ref name=Wenhamxx /><ref name=Arnold617 />

====Late flowering: 1637–1643====
[[File:Frari (Venice) Cappella dei milanesi- tomb of Claudio Monteverdi.jpg|thumb|Monteverdi's tomb in the church of [[Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari]]]]

The opening of the [[Teatro San Cassiano|opera house of San Cassiano]] in 1637, the first public opera house in Europe, stimulated the city's musical life<ref name=Arnold617 /> and coincided with a new burst of the composer's activity. The year 1638 saw the publication of Monteverdi's eighth book of madrigals and a revision of the ''Ballo delle ingrate''. The eighth book contains a ''ballo'', "Volgendi il ciel", which may have been composed for the Holy Roman Emperor, [[Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand III]], to whom the book is dedicated. The years 1640–1641 saw the publication of the extensive collection of church music, ''[[Selva morale e spirituale]]''. Among other commissions, Monteverdi wrote music in 1637 and 1638 for Strozzi's "Accademia degli Unisoni" in Venice, and in 1641 a ballet, ''La vittoria d'Amore'', for the court of [[Piacenza]].<ref name = Wenhamxxi>Wenham (2007) "Chronology", p. xxi.</ref><ref>Arnold (1980a), p. 530</ref>

Monteverdi was still not entirely free from his responsibilities for the musicians at San Marco. He wrote to complain about one of his singers to the Procurators, on 9 June 1637: "I, Claudio Monteverdi&nbsp;... come humbly&nbsp;... to set forth to you how Domenicato Aldegati&nbsp;... a [[Bass (voice type)|bass]], yesterday morning&nbsp;... at the time of the greatest concourse of people&nbsp;... spoke these exact words&nbsp;...'The Director of Music comes from a brood of cut-throat bastards, a thieving, fucking, he-goat&nbsp;... and I shit on him and whoever protects him&nbsp;...{{' "}}.<ref>Stevens, (1995) pp. 431–432</ref>{{refn|[[Denis Stevens]] notes, in his edition of Monteverdi's letters: "Strange that these words, once unfairly applied to the composer, might now be used with some justification to describe the more unruly among his interpreters."<ref>Stevens (1995), p. 432, note ''k''</ref>|group=n}}

Monteverdi's contribution to opera at this period is notable. He revised his earlier opera ''L'Arianna'' in 1640 and wrote three new works for the commercial stage, ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' (''The Return of [[Odysseus|Ulysses]] to his Homeland'', 1640, first performed in Bologna with Venetian singers), ''[[Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi#Le nozze d'Enea con Lavinia (1641−2)|Le nozze d'Enea e Lavinia]]'' (''The Marriage of [[Aeneas]] and [[Lavinia]]'', 1641, music now lost), and ''[[L'incoronazione di Poppea]]'' (''The Coronation of [[Poppea]]'', 1643).<ref>Arnold (1980a), p. 517.</ref> The introduction to the printed scenario of ''Le nozze d'Enea'', by an unknown author, acknowledges that Monteverdi is to be credited for the rebirth of theatrical music and that "he will be sighed for in later ages, for his compositions will surely outlive the ravages of time."<ref>Stevens (1995), p. 434</ref>

In his last surviving letter (20 August 1643), Monteverdi, already ill, was still hoping for the settlement of the long-disputed pension from Mantua, and asked the Doge of Venice to intervene on his behalf.<ref>Stevens (1995), pp. 435–436</ref> He died in Venice on 29 November 1643, after paying a brief visit to Cremona, and is buried in the [[Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari|Church of the Frari]]. He was survived by his sons; Masimilliano died in 1661, Francesco after 1677.<ref name=Arnold516/>