The Mirror of Claudio Monteverdi

Featuring

Paul Van Nevel
Huelgas Ensemble
Claudio Monteverdi
Nicola Vicentino
Cesare Tudino
Giaches de Wert

Luca Marenzio

Did you know?

1/7

Interpretation

The Huelgas Ensemble performs four madrigals by earlier composers between the sections of Monteverdi's Mass, highlighting works that pushed artistic boundaries.

Compositional Technique

Unlike Renaissance composers who used 'real answers' to motifs, Monteverdi emphasized 'tonality' in his Mass, as seen in the bass entry of the Kyrie.

Composition History

Claudio Monteverdi's six-part Mass, featured on this album, was published in 1610 alongside his Marian Vespers, a work of a very different, more innovative character.

Compositional Technique

Monteverdi's Mass is not a 'parody Mass' in the traditional sense; instead, he used ten carefully selected motifs from Gombert's motet as material for his own polyphonic procedures.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Monteverdi intended his six-part Mass as a demonstration of his mastery of polyphonic imitative techniques used by an earlier generation of composers.

Recording & Production

The album's cover features a volvelle by Petrus Apianus, an instrument for calculating the length of natural days and determining astronomical hours.

Compositional Technique

Monteverdi's use of melodic sequences and densely woven imitative passages in this Mass is so extensive that it can be described as a 'neo-Renaissance style'.