On 24 February 1607, L’Orfeo, an opera providing the first fully developed version of the new genre and is a musical drama that is still regularly performed today, premiered.

Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is a drama based on the Greek Legend of Orpheus; a story about his journey to Hades to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. The use of 41 different instruments allowed exciting use of polyphony and separated his work from others.

Polyphony rose from monophony, a melody that can be described as one voice, such as a chant. Charlemagne, King of the Franks (768-814) imposed the Gregorian chant on his kingdom, a chant which carried on for two more centuries. The chant was used for every mass of the Roman Catholic Church, consisting of two rhythms: nuematic and melismatic. Nuematic carried patterns of one to four notes per syllable and melismatic contained unlimited notes.

The monophonic chant was continued during the 11^th century by Benedictine Monks for worship services. They have inspired the present-day Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain to release a recording entitled Chant. The ancient chant had been released during the 1970’s but was re-released on March 15, 1994 under the label Angel, due to increasing interest in the art form. The recording reached the Top 5 on pop charts in the United States, marketed as “an antidote to the stress of modern life.”

The interest in early music during the late 19th century relates to the ideas of innovationist, Guido d’Arezzos during the 11^th century. He was concerned with passing down the Gregorian chant not only through oral traditions, but also through writing in order to preserve, teach and distribute the music.

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Photo Caption: Title page of 1609 publication of L’Orfeo. The opera was published in Venice by Ricciardo Amadino.

Meet the Author

I chose the topic of musical art throughout ancient times and Middle Ages because it is interesting to know where and how music has developed over time. People living in the 21^st century seem to be more considered with the advanced instrumental effects of music rather than the literature of music. Without a man like Monteverdi to create music and Guido d’Arezzos to keep records, there would not be music as advanced during modern times