Claudio Monteverdi

Like many iconoclastic composers, Claudio Monteverdi shocked his contemporaries with a revolutionary approach to harmony. Composing clear melodic lines with a subtle accompaniment, the Italian rejected the strict rules that governed style of the time. That meant he could transport music into a whole new world of sound, bridging the gap between the Renaissance and Baroque.

Monteverdi also transformed dramatic opera. In his work Orfeo, Monteverdi was one of the first composers to use the music to represent emotion, so it would enhance the text rather than simply accompanying it. In doing so he laid the foundations for his successors Mozart and Wagner, who went on to perfect the art of storytelling in opera.

Monteverdi’s music was popular in his lifetime, but it's difficult for contemporary audiences to appreciate the impact of his revolutionary sound on Renaissance listeners. Still, many performers have tried to recreate the magic of early music and amongst them is the prolific Nadia Boulanger. As a composer, conductor and teacher she was one of the most important figures of twentieth-century music. Her 1937 recording of Monteverdi’s madrigals was not only a landmark in the history of recording, but also in the rediscovery of Monteverdi’s music.