Episode Details

Claudio Monteverdi took the rigid polyphonic music of the Renaissance and bent it until it could express individual human emotion. His opera L'Orfeo is considered the first great opera in history. His madrigals scandalized conservative critics who accused him of destroying music. He was doing something simpler: he was making it feel real.

This episode traces Monteverdi from his apprenticeship in Cremona through the Gonzaga court in Mantua, his appointment at St. Mark's in Venice, and the revolutionary works that bridged the Renaissance and Baroque.

• L'Orfeo, composed in 1607, is widely considered the first great opera and remains in the active repertoire
• His use of dissonance and dramatic expression in the madrigals provoked a famous written attack from the theorist Artusi
• He served as maestro di cappella at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice for over thirty years
• He bridged two musical eras, moving from Renaissance polyphony to Baroque dramatic expression