Opera's First Master : The Musical Dramas of Claudio Monteverdi

This work offers targeted review mailing to popular classical music media. "Opera's First Master" enables opera lovers to see and hear Monteverdi's masterpieces anew, while opening new channels of enquiry into how his opera "works" in the theatre.

Complete with a CD of excerpts, "Opera's First Master", is the first layperson's guide to Monteverdi, whose operatic works Ringer places within the musical/theatrical framework of the composer's era, offering a brief sketch of Monteverdi's early years and detailing the complex forces that led to the emergence of opera in late 16th-century Florence. The accompanying full-length CD from Harmonia Mundi includes: "Toccata" from "L'Orfeo"; "La Musica Prologue" from "L'Orfeo"; "Possente spirito" from "L'Orfeo"; Ritornello (harp): "Orfeo son io" from "L'Orfeo"; "Ballo" from "Il Ballo delle ingrate"; Penelope's scene: "Di misera regina" from "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria"; Iro's lament: "Oh, dolor" from "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria"; Aria and duet: "Illustratevi, o Cieli" from "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria"; Seneca and his disciples: "Amici, e giunta l'ora" from "L'Incoronazione di Poppea"; Nerone/Lucano scene: "Or che Seneca e morto" from "L'Incoronazione di Poppea"; Poppea and Arnalta "lullaby" scene from "L'Incoronazione di Poppea"; Ottavia: "A Dio Roma" from "L'Incoronazione di Poppea"; Nerone, Poppea duet: "Pur ti miro" from "L'Incoronazione di Poppea".