Word: mantua
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...audio resum. Claudio Monteverdi published the music we now call the 1610 Vespers in a volume of music printed probably at his own expense and dedicated to the Pope. The year before, Monteverdi had published a volume containing his opera L'Orfeo and dedicated to the future Duke of Mantua. In that first book, he showed that he was the master of the new theatrical style and that he could weld into new shapes the musical styles he had inherited from his predecessors; and that opera has been held up as a masterpiece ever since...
...apartments of princes. Monteverdi is trying to see how far his artistic wings will carry him. These two publications prove his mastery of his art, and the dedication to the Pope suggests his desire for a new job, far away from the problems of being the court musician at Mantua, with all its requirements to provide music for dinners, concerts, dancing, tournaments...
...program began with a welcome by Professor Thomas Kelly, in which he gave a brief history of the Vespers. Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is believed to have composed this collection of works in thirteen parts for the Gonzaga family, the rulers of the duchy of Mantua, for whom he was court composer. The Vespers is one of the daily hours of Roman Catholic worship, and Monteverdi's Vespers contains the texts of all of the essential prayers: the opening versicle and response, five psalms to the Virgin Mary, the hymn, and the Magnificat. Interwoven in these works is a collection...
Which is not to say that the story behind Rigoletto constitutes great dramatic material. Court jester to the Duke of Mantua, the hunch-backed Rigoletto makes the mistake of ridiculing Monterone, a distraught father who accuses the notorious, skirt-chasing duke of dishonoring his daughter. Monterone responds by cursing Rigoletto, praying that he may know first-hand a father's misery. Of course, the curse comes true, for the duke has already espied Rigoletto's beautiful daughter Gilda from afar. Not knowing who she is, he proceeds to make her his next conquest...
...singers' fault--at least not musically. In the usual Lowell House tradition, most of the soloists are recruited from the New England Conservatory, classical music and choral groups around town, and the Boston Conservatory. Saturday night's cast was superb, particularly tenor Richard Munroe (the duke of Mantua, to be played by Thomas Oesterling next week) and soprano Kaja Kjestine Schuppert (Gilda...