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2 Structure of the Work 3 Recordings |
The Vespers was first printed in Venice, Italy, in 1610 when the composer was working at the ducal court in Mantua, Italy. The historical record does not indicate whether Monteverdi actually performed the Vespers either in Mantua or Venice; the work may have been written as an audition piece for posts at Venice (Monteverdi became maestro di cappella at St. Mark's basilica in Venice in 1613) and Rome (where the composer was not offered a post).
The Vespers is a monumental work of music, calling for a choir large enough and skillfl enough to cover up to 10 vocal parts in some movements and split into separate choirs in others while accompanying seven different soloists during the course of the piece. Interestingly, solo parts are included for violin and cornetto, but the ripieno instrumentation is not specified by Monterverdi. Additionally, Monteverdi did not specify a specific set of plainchant antiphons to insert before each psalm and the concluding Magnificat. This allows the performers to tailor the music according to the available insturmental forces and the occasion of the performance (the particular feast day's liturgy would have included suggested antiphons that could be chanted before Monterverdi's psalm settings).
Monterverdi's unique approach to each movement of the Vespers earned the work a place in history, The work not only presents intimate, prayerful moments within its monumental scale, but it also incorporates secular music in this decidedly religious performance and its individual movements present an array of musical forms--sonata, motet, hymn, and psalm--without losing focus. The Vespers achieves overall unity by building each movement on the traditional Gregorian plainchant for each text, which becomes a cantus firmus in Monteverdi's setting.
History and Context
Structure of the Work
Audi coelom verba mea, Hear, O Heaven, my words
plena desiderio full of desire
et perfusa gaudio. and suffused with joy.
Audio. I hear.
Recordings