Bryce BakerDr. RosenApril 19, 2014Musical Literature 221Claudio Monteverdi and L'OrfeoAt the beginning of the 17th century, opera was just beginning to become very popular after Giacopo Peri's famous opera Dafne. Opera was a new musical form exploded into an extremely popular event by Italian Baroque composers Giulio Caccini, Giacopo Peri, Giovanni De Bardi and Claudio Monteverdi. The word opera itself originates from the Italian word for work. Dafne caused a great growth of interest in the operatic arts throughout Europe, moving from Italian composers such as Monteverdi and Peri, to Purcell in England, all composing different types of operas. Claudio Monteverdi, one of the most influential early Baroque composers of his time, marked the transition between the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Monteverdi wrote the groundbreaking opera, L'Orfeo. This booklet is based on the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and Orpheus's adventure into the underworld to save the one he loves. The libretto of L'orfeo was written by Alexandro Striggio in Mantua, Italy, on 24 February 1607. (whenham) Monteverdi's L'orfeo has had a profound impact on opera today thanks to his personal successes as a composer of the early Baroque and to the success of the classic Greek story by using profound symbolism throughout the libretto. According to John Whenham's book Orpheus, he states that this work is "a rich blend of Greek myth with the dramatic conventions of the 16th century, and of the various instrumental and vocal groupings of the intermedia and madrigal traditions with the new expressive recitative style of the Florentines .” This is represented quite well as it was one of the first works to be born using the continuous bass, a new idea that managed to thicken... the center of the paper... use syncopation, dissonance, and gratuitous ornamentation to underline words more emotional so that there were moments in the music that felt like a “dislocation of the voice”. (Warren 49) Claudio Monteverdi was able to invent a completely new musical style, a new type of composition and even define the entire transition of the 'musical era. He was also able to construct one of the most famous baroque operas, so without him modern music would be enormously different. Thanks to his well-established text painting, Monteverdi was able to bring his beautiful creations to life too today, where they are performed regularly. It is only through our ability as human beings to “see beyond by standing on the shoulders of giants” to advance on our personal musical journey, and without composers like Monteverdi to revolutionize the use of the basso continuo and the second practice we can “see beyond”.”.