Claudio Monteverdi (born 1567 in Cremona, died 1643 in Venice) was initially a pupil of Marco Antonio Ingegneri. In 1519 he became a violinist and singer at the court of Mantua. From there he accompanied the Duke on his travels and became Kapellmeister in 1601. In 1613, Monteverdi went to Venice and worked in the same capacity at St Mark’s Basilica. His madrigals earned him a high reputation early on. However, Claudio Monteverdi is of the greatest importance as an opera composer. His work “L’Orfeo” is the first opera of great style in music history. Not only in this opera, but also in all his other operas, he proved to be an extremely successful music dramatist.

Instrumentation: 4 trp/4 trb/4 hrn/tuba/timpani