Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (Cremona, May 9, 1567 - Venice, November 29, 1643) was an influential Italian composer who marked the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque music. As one of the main innovators of musical language, he wrote one of the earliest theatrical works, the melodrama L'Orfeo. His career spanned from Cremona to Mantua and then Venice, where he served as maestro di cappella at the Basilica of San Marco. Monteverdi, witnessing the life of a professional musician in his time, faced financial and political issues.
Much of his production, including many theatrical works, has been lost. However, nine books of madrigals, religious works such as Vespro della Beata Vergine, and three complete operas have come down to us. L'Orfeo, his first opera, is still widely performed. In his maturity, Monteverdi composed operas for Venice, such as Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea.
Monteverdi, although mastering Renaissance polyphony, introduced innovations in form and melody, employing the basso continuo, characteristic of the Baroque period. Not unfamiliar with controversy, he defended his compositional choices as elements of a "second practice," contrasting with the earlier, more orthodox style he called "first practice."
