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By
Published: Jan 6, 2010
Category: Classical [4]
Quick: Name two great pieces of choral music that were created as job applications.
"The B Minor Mass" by Bach? Yes.
The other is harder: Vespro Della Beata Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin) [3], which Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) sent to the Pope in 1610, hoping to get a plum job in Rome.
Extra point question: Which composer got a job? Only Bach.
But weep not for Monteverdi. In 1612, he was hired --- for 300 ducats a year --- as maestro di cappella at the basilica of St. Mark in Venice. Four years later, he was honored with a 200 ducat raise. And he kept that distinguished job for an extraordinary 33 years until his death in 1643.
This marks the 400th anniversary of a masterpiece. The Monterverdi Vespers is not only a great, crowd-pleasing performance piece, it’s as modern as Jay-Z. That’s because Monteverdi engineered a revolution in music. Starting with his 1607 opera, “L’Orfeo,” he abandoned the conventions of Renaissance polyphony --- which had all the voices projecting equally, in a kind of wall of sound --- and moved individual singers to the foreground.
Suddenly a singer was a character, and the words he sang described emotions unique to him. Choral music became drama. The instruments became the backup band; and the chorus became backup singers. And Renaissance music segued into the Baroque. If you listen closely, you can hear how the “Vespers” foreshadow Handel’s “Messiah” and the “St. Matthew Passion” of Bach.
The result is crisp, exciting music. Listen to the bite at the start of the piece:
And then, in the Magnificat, consider the beauty of a single singer:
Les Arts Florissants is a world class Baroque ensemble, founded by William Christie in 1979. Here he builds a monster cast: nine soloists and a chorus of twenty-seven. The orchestra is also huge: three cornets and trombones, two recorders and a dulcian (a double-reed woodwind).
Beyond the beauty of the piece itself, I commend the “Vespers” as a reminder that not every era places the human ego on a pedestal. Here’s an easy way to tell the difference between 2010 and 1610. Turn on your TV to any cable news station. Kill the sound and just watch the faces. Those guys --- and their guests --- look terribly sure of whatever they’re saying. And they’re monumentally convinced of their importance.
Now, as if it were the soundtrack, start the “Vespers.” Those talking heads seem almost comical. And the Monteverdi --- that’s 17th century soul music, isn’t it?