Opera's First Master: The Musical Dramas of Claudio Monteverdi

Includes Full-Length Harmonia Mundi CD
Complete with a CD of excerpts from Harmonia Mundi recordings, Opera's First Master: The Musical Dramas of Claudio Monteverdi from our Unlocking the Masters series, is the first layperson's guide to the great opera composer Claudio Monteverdi who is often hailed as the creator of modern music. Ringer places Monteverdi's operatic works within the musical and theatrical framework of his era, offering a brief sketch of the composer?s early years and detailing the complex forces that led to the emergence of opera in late 16th century Florence. Opera's First Master enables opera lovers to see and hear Monteverdi's masterpieces anew, while opening new channels of inquiry into how Monteverdian opera "works" in the theater.

Accompanying full-length CD from Harmonia Mundi includes:
1. Toccata from L'Orfeo
2. La Musica Prologue: from L'Orfeo
3. "Possente spirto" from L'Orfeo
4. Ritornello (harp): "Orfeo son io": from L'Orfeo
5. Ballo from ll Ballo delle ingrate
6. Penelope's opening scene: "Di misera regina" from Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
7. Iro's lament: "Oh, dolor" from Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
8. Aria and duet: "Illustratevi, o Cieli" from Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
9. Seneca and his disciples: "Amici, e giunta l'ora" from L'Incoronazione di Poppea
10. Nerone / Lucano scene: "Or che Seneca e morto" from L'Incoronazione di Poppea
11. Poppea and Arnalta "lullaby" scene from L'Incoronazione di Poppea
12. Ottavia, "A Dio Roma" from L'Incoronazione di Poppea
13. Nerone, Poppea duet: "Pur ti miro" from L'Incoronazione di Poppea