Word: monteverdi
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...sequel to I, Claudius? Part 2 of Caligula? No, an opera: Claudio Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, first performed in 1642 in Venice. History's first great opera, Poppea is infrequently performed not because of the plot, which set a high standard of treachery and lubricity, but because of the special demands of Baroque convention, which included the casting of castrati in principal roles. Further, the musical idiom of early 17th century opera sounds strange to audiences accustomed to the ripe lyricism of Bellini, Verdi and Puccini...
...1600s, Venice became the home of the new art form. The locale was appropriate: opera was more comfortable in that city of intrigue and sensuousness, and Titian red was better suited to its grand theatricality than the umber of Tuscany. Monteverdi settled there and wrote at least six operas; by 1700 there were 16 opera theaters among the canals. In the mid-19th century, the new music had progressed so far from its simple start that Hector Berlioz recalled: "... horses, cardinals under a canopy . . . orgies of priests and naked women . . . the rocking of the heavens...
...history of opera. Composers are constantly being rediscovered or reinterpreted, and, unlike plays, many of which are forgotten after their first production, operas have the gift of eternal life. Within the past 20 years, for example, there has been something of a revival of the works of Monteverdi's little-known successor, Francesco Cavalli...
Grove 6 offers not only updated biographies and bibliographies but greatly expanded coverage on forms, theory, cities and their musical traditions, instruments, musical sociology and institutions. A generation of scholarship has enhanced the reputations of such composers as Monteverdi, Palestrina, Lassus, Josquin, Vivaldi, Cimarosa and Donizetti. Entries on such late 19th century romantics as Bruckner and Mahler have been greatly expanded; the 20th century giant Stravinsky gets 30 columns of biography and discussion vs. nine in Grove...
Along with City Opera's problems, however, Sills will inherit a healthy, adventurous tradition. Under Rudel, the company staged early operas like Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea and such rarities as Janacek's The Mahropou-los Affair and Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq d 'Or. It has nurtured young singers, mostly American?including, on their way up. Sills, Sherrill Milnes, Donald Gramm and Placido Domingo. "Rudel did interesting operas and developed interesting singers," says Anthony Bliss, executive director of the Met. "It is no mean achievement...