jan 1, 1607 - L'Orfeo

Description:

Monumental opera by Claudio Montiverdi. A parable about the power of music, which frames dramatic recitative with decorative arias, dances, madrigal-like choruses, and instrumetnal ritornellos for a wide range of instruments.

Composed for the Prince of Mantua, and praises him in some way. Many pieces written for patrons do something like this.

The Italian court spectacles glorified political power in various ways. The most obvious was the fusion of all the arts in the common enterprise of princely praise as exemplified in the earliest Medici wedding-shows, in which the large assemblages of singers and instrumentalists were exceeded only by the elaborate stage sets and the theatrical machinery. Moreover, the plots, involving mythological or ancient historical heroes, were transparent allegories of the sponsoring rulers. Should anyone miss hte point, the rulers were often addressed directly in the prologues that linked the story of the opera to events of their reign.

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