Another thing that Monteverde did that was new in the Coronation of Poppea was to make his violins describe the excitement of the combat by a long tremolo, using the passage exactly as we do to-day. It was so novel that the violinists refused to play it. But they had to!
Monteverde also did not hesitate to introduce an instrumental intermezzo in the midst of a tragic scene.
Monteverde was a painter of life. His music was vital and vivid and in spirit much like that of the great Italian portrait-painters who were his contemporaries. He saw his characters and he explained them in musical language; and he made his Orchestra help him to do so. And he did this, moreover, in such an artistic way that Wagner thought him worthy of copying nearly three hundred years later.
Monteverde stands forever as one of the greatest figures in musical history.
After the representation of Orfeo, Monteverde continued to compose; and in 1608 he brought out an opera called Adrianna, which aroused the whole of Italy to enthusiasm. Then he produced a number of ballets and comedies. In 1612 he went to Venice, for he had been appointed maestro di capella in the beautiful church of St. Mark’s. The people went wild over him. He was honored in every way; and his music travelled into Germany, Holland, France, and England and was studied by all the leading musicians.
After the terrible epidemic of the Plague in 1630, which carried off fifty thousand persons in sixteen months in Italy alone, Monteverde entered the Church; but this did not prevent him from composing dramatic works and madrigals (which he still loved to write) on love and war. He saw the first public opera-house opened in Venice in 1637, which was an important musical event, and he died in 1643, at the age of seventy-six.
After Orfeo, Monteverde gave up his “noisy Orchestra,” as it was considered. He now simplified it. He weeded out the old instruments whose tones did not harmonize with the new instruments—for the Brescian and Cremonese-makers were very busy in these days turning out new models; and, as he lived in the region of the great violin-makers, Monteverde saw every new model as it left the hands of Maggini or Amati.[39] The idea had dawned upon him of mixing his instruments—our modern Orchestra was beginning!
We must not imagine, however, that Monteverde was the only great musician of the day, though he was the most popular composer in Europe.
