L'Orfeo Essays

L’Orfeo was written in 1607 by Claudio Monteverdi. It is based on the Greek legend of Orfeo and tells the tale of his descent to Hades and his endeavour to bring his dead bride Euridice back to the living world. Susan McClary had a major influence on thinking about gender constructions in music and she argues that Monteverdi has represented masculine and feminine gender conceptions in the way he treats the characters, particularly Orfeo and Euridice, in this opera. Jeffrey Kurtzman, however, argues

style of singing known as bel canto. Composers such as Claudio Monteverdi, Jean-Baptiste Lully, and George Frideric Handel were instrumental in the development of opera during this period. Some examples of famous Baroque operas include Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo," Handel's "Giulio Cesare," and Lully's "Armide." Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time and is known for his complex and intricate works,

In its lifetime, now spanning over four hundred years, opera has influenced many music genres. Names like Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and countless others have become household names, perhaps due to the use of their melodies in advertisements for household cleaners and other products. However, the commercial enterprise of opera isn’t limited just to these brief television displays. They are merely one facet of modern culture that opera has pervaded. Another facet, and the focus of the intended paper,

year 1600 a group of florentine intellectuals introduced their Fledgling concept of opera, an initiation of ancient Greek drama. In 1607, Monteverdi took the concept and turned it on it’s head. Monteverdi then created the first true opera called “L’Orfeo”. Monteverdi defined all existing musical convention. To emphasize the wide ranging emotions of his characteristics, Monteverdi subdued the traditional polyphonic structure of the Renaissance, in which all vocal elements were produced equally. Claudio

transition between the Renaissance style and the Baroque. Although his earlier choral works reflect the lavish chromatic style of the Renaissance, Monteverdi not only embraced the simpler Baroque style but eventually became its greatest advocate. L’Orfeo, his opera, would mark the beginning of the new era. Monteverdi was a young musician, having published his first works at age 15, and a second set 8 years later. At this time in his life, performing was his livelihood and eventually it landed him