Monteverdi: Vespers at Holy Cross Church, London on Sunday 20th November 2022

Please note: This concert is in the past and has already taken place.

Monteverdi: Vespers

Add to my Calendar 20-11-2022 18:30 20-11-2022 20:30 36 Monteverdi: Vespers Monteverdi’s 'Vespers of the Blessed Virgin’ first published in 1610 has become one of the cornerstones of the classical repertoire and a towering masterpiece of the early Baroque. Its magnificent music holds an immediate appeal and speaks to us directly and powerfully across the four centuries since it was created. However Monteverdi himself may not have expected to hear the Vespers sung as a complete work. Indeed there is little evidence that any of its music was actually performed during his lifetime.Monteverdi produced the Vespers while he was choirmaster to the Duke of Mantua in northern Italy and was intended for use by the choirmasters of those great churches like St Mark’s in Venice or St Peter’s in Rome, which had a permanent staff of expert singers and could call upon instrumental forces. The 1610 Vespers contained all the music needed for the services of a feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary including not only Vesper Psalms, motets and Magnificat settings but also a Mass for 6 voices. Monteverdi’s Psalm settings take as their basis a simple technique: each verse of the Psalm is sung to the same plainsong and phrased round it the composer wraps a web of polyphony, bringing an extraordinary range of invention to this techniqueAlthough Monteverdi did not obtain employment in Rome, as he may have hoped, the 1610 publication stood him in good stead when in 1613 he applied for the post of choirmaster of St Mark’s, Venice. The report on his audition mentions the 'quality and virtue of his works which are found in print’ even before expressing satisfaction with his performance. Monteverdi indeed won the post of maestro di cappella at San Marco in Venice and we can be reasonably certain that this remarkable sacred work played a role in his engagement. Holy Cross Church, London DD/MM/YYYY

Details

Holy Cross Church
Ashington Road
Parsons Green
Fulham
London
SW6 3QA
England

Sunday 20th November 2022
6:30 PM

Programme

Claudio Monteverdi – Vespers of 1610

Performers

Harry Castle – Musical Director

Fulham Camerata

Programme Note

Monteverdi’s 'Vespers of the Blessed Virgin’ first published in 1610 has become one of the cornerstones of the classical repertoire and a towering masterpiece of the early Baroque. Its magnificent music holds an immediate appeal and speaks to us directly and powerfully across the four centuries since it was created. However Monteverdi himself may not have expected to hear the Vespers sung as a complete work. Indeed there is little evidence that any of its music was actually performed during his lifetime.

Monteverdi produced the Vespers while he was choirmaster to the Duke of Mantua in northern Italy and was intended for use by the choirmasters of those great churches like St Mark’s in Venice or St Peter’s in Rome, which had a permanent staff of expert singers and could call upon instrumental forces.

The 1610 Vespers contained all the music needed for the services of a feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary including not only Vesper Psalms, motets and Magnificat settings but also a Mass for 6 voices.

Monteverdi’s Psalm settings take as their basis a simple technique: each verse of the Psalm is sung to the same plainsong and phrased round it the composer wraps a web of polyphony, bringing an extraordinary range of invention to this technique

Although Monteverdi did not obtain employment in Rome, as he may have hoped, the 1610 publication stood him in good stead when in 1613 he applied for the post of choirmaster of St Mark’s, Venice. The report on his audition mentions the 'quality and virtue of his works which are found in print’ even before expressing satisfaction with his performance. Monteverdi indeed won the post of maestro di cappella at San Marco in Venice and we can be reasonably certain that this remarkable sacred work played a role in his engagement.

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