0:00:02 > 0:00:03CHOIR SINGS
0:00:11 > 0:00:15This is a journey back in time to Italy 400 years ago,
0:00:15 > 0:00:18and a turning point in Western music.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24It's the story of a Renaissance duke and the composer who worked for him,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26and how their volatile relationship
0:00:26 > 0:00:29would create one of the most revolutionary and beautiful
0:00:29 > 0:00:31collections of music ever published.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35The composer was Claudio Monteverdi,
0:00:35 > 0:00:39whose bold experiments would change the way music sounds for ever.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Here in the northern Italian town of Mantua,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46we'll discover the world of his employer, Vincenzo Gonzaga,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50a man addicted to sex, luxury and art.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52CHOIR SINGS
0:00:55 > 0:00:59This is the story of a new breed of dramatic composer.
0:00:59 > 0:01:04The world had never heard anything before like the Monteverdi Vespers.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12With Harry Christophers and his virtuoso choir The Sixteen,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15we'll investigate what makes this music so powerful
0:01:15 > 0:01:17and so modern.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Let me take you into the heart of the Vespers
0:01:23 > 0:01:26with Monteverdi In Mantua.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37When Claudio Monteverdi composed his Vespers For The Blessed Virgin Mary,
0:01:37 > 0:01:38often called The Vespers Of 1610
0:01:38 > 0:01:41because that's when they were first published,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45he must have known that it was a truly revolutionary work,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48unlike anything that the world had heard before.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51He was 43 years old, and at a crossroads in his life.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55In this ground-breaking composition, he distils all his musical skills,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59his genius, proving himself to be the first of a new breed
0:01:59 > 0:02:03of dramatic composer, straddling the worlds of the secular
0:02:03 > 0:02:05and the sacred.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16CHOIR SINGS
0:02:29 > 0:02:32For 20 years Monteverdi had toiled in the service
0:02:32 > 0:02:35of a demanding and ungrateful patron.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38With this unashamedly modern music as his manifesto,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41he was determined to secure for himself a better future
0:02:41 > 0:02:45and to escape forever the tyranny of his master,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Vincenzo Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Our journey into the world of this masterpiece
0:02:56 > 0:02:59starts here in Oxford, at the Ashmolean Museum.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07This is the earliest portrait we have of Monteverdi,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11painted in about 1597, when he was just 30.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13And he's, er, rather a handsome young man.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16He has a very sensual face.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20He's holding a bass viol. In front of him is a piece of music,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22which...
0:03:22 > 0:03:25I can read, but I certainly can't identify,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27and there's a quill too.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31He actually looks a bit startled to me, his eyes are slightly wide,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33and so perhaps he's been interrupted
0:03:33 > 0:03:35and this is a picture of him at work.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Claudio Monteverdi was born here in Cremona
0:03:49 > 0:03:52in the North Italian province of Lombardy.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Inevitably, there's a statue of him here,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59and unfortunately, it's ghastly.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08His father was called Baldassare, he was a barber surgeon,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10and his mother Maddalena,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12but she died when he was just seven years old.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15He was baptised in a church on this site
0:04:15 > 0:04:18which was subsequently destroyed and then rebuilt,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22but the font remains, as do the baptismal records,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24and here they are in front of me.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30"15th May" - Maggio - "1567, Claudio Zwan" - a form of John -
0:04:30 > 0:04:34"Anthony, figlio di" - son of -
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Master Baldassare Monteverdi.
0:04:39 > 0:04:40A great composer starts his life.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42CHOIR SINGS
0:04:52 > 0:04:55This is Cremona Cathedral,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Monteverdi's first workplace as apprentice to the composer
0:04:58 > 0:05:02and master of the cathedral's music Marc'Antonio Ingegneri.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Ingegneri was very much of the old school.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08His church music was based on medieval plainchant
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and the theories of the ancient philosophers.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20From his master, the young composer learned all the old ways,
0:05:20 > 0:05:22but tradition was not to be his way.
0:05:24 > 0:05:25By the time he was 20,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29he'd already had four books of his work published,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31each more radical than the last.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35But he knew he still had a long way to go.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38"I can't expect from music that is so much a product of youth
0:05:38 > 0:05:41"as mine is such praise as might be given
0:05:41 > 0:05:43"to the mature fruits of summer.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46"My compositions are like the flowers of spring."
0:05:53 > 0:05:55When he was 23, Monteverdi secured
0:05:55 > 0:05:58an appointment in Mantua as a violist,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02at the court of His Most Serene Highness the Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04sole ruler of the city.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12Vincenzo Gonzaga IS Mantua. He's the Mantuan law.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17He owns his citizens. They are his children.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21Everyone in Mantua owes the Duke loyalty and obedience.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Mantua today is a rather tranquil backwater
0:06:26 > 0:06:28nestling in the heart of rural Italy,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32but 400 years ago, it was a town that seethed with sexual scandal,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35violence and court corruption.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37And the palace of the Gonzagas, behind me, was at the centre
0:06:37 > 0:06:42of this explosive mix of cruelty and high culture.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48In this vast and elaborate palace, Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga
0:06:48 > 0:06:51lived in luxurious style, ruling over a court
0:06:51 > 0:06:55where art and music were at the centre of politics and power.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02One of the ways of demonstrating that
0:07:02 > 0:07:06you're a city and a court that's not to be messed with
0:07:06 > 0:07:11is to show that you have wealth and prestige and great contacts.
0:07:11 > 0:07:18Art, paintings, music are all part of this very overt display
0:07:18 > 0:07:23of magnificence - a magnificence that keeps your enemies at bay.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32One of the greatest painters of the Early Baroque, Peter Paul Rubens,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35was recruited by Vincenzo to work for him at the Gonzaga court.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39And here is Rubens's portrait of Vincenzo,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42sitting there opulently dressed, very much the art collector,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46the patron of music, the lavish thrower of parties.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Behind him is his father, more soberly dressed,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52the statesman, the soldier, also a musician.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Vincenzo was connected by blood and marriage to the elite of Europe.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59He was notorious for his devotion to alchemists,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01dwarves and lady singers,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04for his extravagance, his sexual promiscuity,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06his lack of concern for the future,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08and also for his genuine enthusiasm for the arts.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Of course, unless you were a famous lady singer,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14the Gonzagas tended to pay the lowest possible fees
0:08:14 > 0:08:17whilst demanding the highest possible standards.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21So there he is - the maverick, the chancer,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25summed up by his famous motto, "Forse che si, forse che no."
0:08:25 > 0:08:28"Maybe, maybe not."
0:08:35 > 0:08:39For the next 22 years, this would be Monteverdi's world,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42working unceasingly, composing and performing
0:08:42 > 0:08:45as Vincenzo Gonzaga dictated.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50When you join the court, you become a servant of the Duke.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54You need permission to marry, you need permission to leave the city,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58you need permission, certainly, to seek alternative employment.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01So while being a member of the ducal family
0:09:01 > 0:09:04is a great privilege and a great honour,
0:09:04 > 0:09:05it's also a great constraint.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13In 1599, he fell in love with one of the court singers,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Claudia Cattaneo, and they were married here in this Mantuan church,
0:09:17 > 0:09:18San Simone e Giuda.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22And this is their marriage certificate.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27Their entry is at the bottom of this first page.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32And I can see his name, Claudio Monteverdi, "e Claudia Cattaneo".
0:09:32 > 0:09:36But even this happy occasion was blighted by the Duke's stinginess.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Monteverdi would later complain
0:09:38 > 0:09:40that although he'd been promised clothes,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43he had no topcoat, no stockings or garters,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45and no silk lining for his cloak.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55This is the Mantua state archive,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and somewhere in this vast dusty labyrinth
0:09:58 > 0:10:01there are preserved 127 letters written by Monteverdi
0:10:01 > 0:10:03over a period of 30 years.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05It's a remarkable legacy.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Addressed to various court officials, some to the Duke himself,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15they reveal a long-suffering man beset by ill-health
0:10:15 > 0:10:18who hated the swampy Mantuan climate.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24This is business correspondence between an artist and his employer,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28but in every detail, they show us how little control Monteverdi had
0:10:28 > 0:10:30over his own life.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34He was always polite, sometimes almost laughably courtly,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36as was the fashion for the time,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39pleading to be released from his master's vice-like grip
0:10:39 > 0:10:43as wages were embezzled and promises broken,
0:10:43 > 0:10:45and the work was relentless.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47CHOIR SINGS
0:10:52 > 0:10:55He was often a little tactless, but never malicious,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58simply honest and outspoken,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01and his letters are in this box here.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03CHOIR SINGS
0:11:19 > 0:11:21"To my most respected master,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24"His Serene Highness the Lord Duke of Mantua.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27"Having exhausted all other appeals,
0:11:27 > 0:11:32"it is now proper that I kneel with humility before Your Highness
0:11:32 > 0:11:35"humbly to beg from the bottom of my heart some five months' wages,
0:11:35 > 0:11:40"without which my distress has been building up day upon day.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44"Look not upon the boldness with which I ask this
0:11:44 > 0:11:46"of Your Highness's infinite virtue,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50"but favour me with your support without which my life is ruined.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54"I pray to Almighty God for a long life for Your Highness
0:11:54 > 0:11:55"to whom I bow,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59"your most grateful and humble servant,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02"Claudio Monteverdi."
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Duke Vincenzo demanded new and impressive music
0:12:20 > 0:12:22on an almost weekly basis,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26particularly the fashionable secular songs known as madrigals.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Music became a highly competitive sport -
0:12:36 > 0:12:39acquiring the greatest composers, the greatest singers
0:12:39 > 0:12:42and the greatest players is something that different dukes
0:12:42 > 0:12:46had attempted to compete with each other for.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Vincenzo was probably more sophisticated
0:12:53 > 0:12:55than many of his contemporaries
0:12:55 > 0:12:59and genuinely appreciates the calibre
0:12:59 > 0:13:01of what he's managed to attract to Mantua.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Cruda Amarilli may sound innocuous to us -
0:13:15 > 0:13:17in fact, it's rather a beautiful piece of work -
0:13:17 > 0:13:19but it sparked a real controversy.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24In 1600, Giovanni Maria Artusi published his treatise
0:13:24 > 0:13:27on the imperfections of modern music.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30"I was invited to hear a new madrigal," he wrote.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33"I will not name the composer, but he introduced new rules,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37"defamations of the true nature of harmony which proved harsh
0:13:37 > 0:13:39"and unpleasing to the ear.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43"There's nothing but smoke in the head of such a composer,
0:13:43 > 0:13:45"so in love with himself that he believes
0:13:45 > 0:13:48"he can corrupt and despoil the good old rules
0:13:48 > 0:13:52"handed down to us by ancient theorists and musicians."
0:13:52 > 0:13:55The composer in question can only have been Monteverdi,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59since Artusi quotes from Cruda Amarilli, which he describes as
0:13:59 > 0:14:03"a monstrous birth - part man, part crane, part swallow, part ox."
0:14:09 > 0:14:11Five years later, Monteverdi publishes
0:14:11 > 0:14:14his fifth book of madrigals and he writes
0:14:14 > 0:14:15a brief but blunt preface.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18"Being in the service of His Grace the Duke of Mantua,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21"I don't have time to reply in detail to Artusi,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24"but these things I do are not done by accident.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27"It may be a surprise to some, but there are other ways
0:14:27 > 0:14:31"of producing beauty and harmony besides the ancient style.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35"Believe me, the modern composer
0:14:35 > 0:14:38"is building on the foundations of truth."
0:14:47 > 0:14:52By the time he's 40, he's not only published five books of madrigals,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55but, significantly, they've all been reprinted.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57But life is about to become very hard.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02Claudia, his beloved wife and the mother of his two sons, dies.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09At the same time, he was writing his opera, L'Orfeo,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12whose plot must have had a particular significance for him.
0:15:12 > 0:15:13The story of a musician
0:15:13 > 0:15:17who descends into the underworld to recover his dead wife.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20And it was probably first performed here,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23in what is now the palace bookshop.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48This is how Orfeo in the opera
0:15:48 > 0:15:51responds to the news of his wife Eurydice's death.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54"You are dead, my life,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56"but I still breathe.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59"Gone from me and never to return,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01"so why should I remain?"
0:16:07 > 0:16:11This was a turning point in Western classical music.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13With Orfeo, Monteverdi had created
0:16:13 > 0:16:16for the glory of the Duke and the House of Gonzaga
0:16:16 > 0:16:18one of the world's first operas,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22a work that dazzled and amazed its aristocratic Mantuan audience.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29The success of Orfeo
0:16:29 > 0:16:32only brought more demands from the Duke for more music,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and it was at this point that Monteverdi hatched his plan,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39a real indication of what an independent thinker he was.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43He would consolidate two decades of musical experimentation
0:16:43 > 0:16:45into a single bold statement.
0:16:45 > 0:16:4913 compositions dedicated to the Virgin Mary,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52crucially not commissioned by Duke Vincenzo,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56but designed to propel the composer's reputation beyond Mantua.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59He called it "the fruit of my nocturnal labours",
0:16:59 > 0:17:03and rather cheekily, he began it with the fanfare from Orfeo.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Monteverdi brings together all sorts of techniques,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32utilising every single dramatic,
0:17:32 > 0:17:36operatic effect. And nobody really has done this before.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42It's by turns ebullient and mystical
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and prayerful and joyful and sensuous.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47It's a bit like putting on a really great album
0:17:47 > 0:17:50that just doesn't have a bad track.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57It's the most extraordinary piece, really, that I've ever sung.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00I find Monteverdi just so wonderful to sing, it really is.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07What makes the Vespers Of 1610 so remarkable
0:18:07 > 0:18:10is that the composer uses instruments and techniques from
0:18:10 > 0:18:14his secular work - his opera and his madrigals - in a sacred context.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18It was Monteverdi's ambition to combine for the first time
0:18:18 > 0:18:21the spiritual and the sensual, taking us through passages
0:18:21 > 0:18:25of the most flamboyant virtuosity and the most profound intimacy.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29And needless to say, he succeeds to thrilling effect.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35With its heady mixture of elaborate fanfares,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39extravagant theatrical gestures and moments of human intimacy,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41the Vespers seem to me like
0:19:41 > 0:19:44a microcosm of life at the Gonzaga court.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49Duke Vincenzo I had a reputation for sexual dalliances -
0:19:49 > 0:19:53more than dalliances, in some cases full-blooded affairs
0:19:53 > 0:19:56with women of other people's courts
0:19:56 > 0:19:59and the women of his own court.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04In the late 16th century, being a man who put himself about
0:20:04 > 0:20:09was actually a very good way of demonstrating your princely stature.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12You didn't really need to follow normal rules.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Some of the texts that Monteverdi set for his Vespers were taken
0:20:16 > 0:20:20from the Song Of Songs, the most erotic book in the Old Testament.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Here is no mention of God or the law, this is a dialogue
0:20:23 > 0:20:28between two lovers, an unabashed celebration of sexual love.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32# Pulchra es
0:20:32 > 0:20:41# Amica mea
0:20:41 > 0:20:47# Suavis
0:20:47 > 0:20:54# Et decora
0:20:54 > 0:21:02# Filia Jerusalem... #
0:21:02 > 0:21:07Were the Vespers designed in part to be sung as extracts, as solo pieces?
0:21:07 > 0:21:11Would they have been heard performed here in the ducal palace
0:21:11 > 0:21:12outside the church?
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Of course, within the church, there were only male voices heard.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18But Monteverdi at this time was writing a great deal
0:21:18 > 0:21:20for female voices,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23constantly casting and directing women for his operas
0:21:23 > 0:21:24and court entertainments.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27And the presence of women performers at court
0:21:27 > 0:21:29was a source of great pleasure
0:21:29 > 0:21:33as well as scandal and gossip in 17th-century Italy.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Every week in this room, Monteverdi and his musicians,
0:21:42 > 0:21:46both men and women, would perform for the Gonzaga Court.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47"Every Friday evening," he wrote,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49"there is music in the Hall Of Mirrors.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52"And when the lady singers join us, their voices give our music
0:21:52 > 0:21:56"such power and such special grace that it delights all the senses.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58"His Highness the Duke will be compelled
0:21:58 > 0:22:00"to post cards at the entrance soon,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04"because I swear that the audience last Friday numbered over 100.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07"Lord, ladies and gentlemen from the city."
0:22:07 > 0:22:12# Pulchra es
0:22:12 > 0:22:18# Amica mea... #
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Pulchra Es is a very intimate, sensual setting of the Song Of Songs.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26It always takes quite a lot of courage to sing that, really,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28because there is so much control involved
0:22:28 > 0:22:31and you have to trust your duetting partner
0:22:31 > 0:22:34that you can really feed each line back and forward.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36So it is very exposed.
0:22:36 > 0:22:43# Sicut Jerusalem
0:22:43 > 0:22:48# Terribilis... #
0:22:48 > 0:22:51It is also an incredibly challenging range for the singers.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Vocally, it goes really high,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55it goes really low, a lot of the time, for the sopranos.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59So we are kind of grovelling around in our boots a lot of the time
0:22:59 > 0:23:03and we still have to sound beautiful and expressive and all those things.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05So it is a big challenge.
0:23:05 > 0:23:13# Averte oculos tuos a me
0:23:13 > 0:23:16# A me
0:23:16 > 0:23:18# A me
0:23:18 > 0:23:26# Quia ipsi... #
0:23:26 > 0:23:30Vincenzo had a network of spies and music agents
0:23:30 > 0:23:31that used to scour Italy,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35looking to borrow or steal rising stars from other courts.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38The Duke himself would pick and choose his leading ladies
0:23:38 > 0:23:40and seduce them at every opportunity.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Did the Duke's appetites change the course of music history?
0:23:46 > 0:23:49I met up with musicologist Paula Besutti.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53- Women singers...- Yes?- They were quite new, weren't they?- Yes.
0:23:53 > 0:24:00In 1607, Eurydice in Orfeo was a young man. OK?
0:24:00 > 0:24:02- Sung by a man?- Yes.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08- In 1608, Arianna was a woman. - His second opera.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11An actress. With Arianna,
0:24:11 > 0:24:16we have the first case of a diva of opera.
0:24:16 > 0:24:22- Do we have her name?- Yes. Florinda Virginia Andreini nate Florinda.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27- Very fascinating.- It must have been very exciting, and very sexy...- Yes.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32- ..to see women... - Virginia was very, very sexy, yes.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38Virginia was not only a singer but was a singer and actress.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42That is so, so important, this aspect,
0:24:42 > 0:24:48for understanding the significance of opera is not only music,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52but music, beauty,
0:24:52 > 0:24:57scenery, light and so on and so on.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59- She was a bit of a superstar?- Yes.
0:24:59 > 0:25:05Florinda was a jewel of the court of Mantua.
0:25:05 > 0:25:11MUSIC: O, Chiome D'Oro
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Monteverdi's composition of the Vespers was interrupted
0:25:36 > 0:25:39by a commission from Vincenzo.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43He required a special magical, one to mourn the death of a singer,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47Caterina Martinelli, nicknamed La Roma Nina, the Little Roman Girl.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02She died suddenly from one of the many infectious diseases
0:26:02 > 0:26:04that ravaged Mantua at the time, aged 18,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06just before she was about to take the lead role
0:26:06 > 0:26:08in one of Monteverdi's operas.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31She had been a great favourite of the Duke's.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34His agents had recruited her in 1603,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36when she was just 13 years old.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41But to protect her reputation,
0:26:41 > 0:26:46her family insisted that she must take regular virginity tests.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Even in Rome, they were aware of Vincenzo's dubious reputation.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56The Duke was sufficiently alarmed at this to recommend
0:26:56 > 0:26:59that in order to keep things above board, she should stay
0:26:59 > 0:27:03with the eminently respectable Monteverdi and his family.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Monteverdi knew about death. This is a madrigal of grief
0:27:12 > 0:27:15in which his love for the human voice, for the young singer
0:27:15 > 0:27:20whom he befriended, and for his wife, Claudia, are distilled.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44This letter, dated 2nd December 1608, written during a period
0:27:44 > 0:27:46when he would have been composing the Vespers,
0:27:46 > 0:27:51shows him asking for an honourable dismissal from the Duke's service.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55"The Duke only ever talks to me about hard work," he says.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58"Believe me, if I do not take a break from this toiling away at music,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01"my life will be a short one indeed.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04"As a consequence of my labours so recent and of such magnitude,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06"I suffer from frightful headaches
0:28:06 > 0:28:09"and a horrible and violent itch all around my waist.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13"No remedies, not even blood-letting, cure me.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15"My father thinks that the cause of the pain in my head
0:28:15 > 0:28:18"is mental strain and that the itch is due to Mantua's air,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21"which does not agree with me.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25"He fears that the air alone will be the death of me before too long."
0:28:26 > 0:28:29It is a long letter, and paints a vivid portrait
0:28:29 > 0:28:32of the day-to-day drudgery of life as a 17th-century composer.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34He complains about his money problems,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36how other people are paid more than he is,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39how he never receives the money he is promised,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41how he has to meet all his own costs,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44how he can barely afford to feed and clothe his two sons.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47"Please let me be released from the service of his Highness.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50"It cannot make me poorer than I already am
0:28:50 > 0:28:54"and perhaps I may even derive true happiness."
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Monteverdi hated the pressures that Vincenzo put upon him.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Time and again he quotes the proverb,
0:28:59 > 0:29:03"Presto e bene insieme non conviene."
0:29:03 > 0:29:06"Haste and good work never go together."
0:29:10 > 0:29:14Whenever the pressure of working for the Duke got too much for him,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18Monteverdi would retreat to his childhood home in nearby Cremona,
0:29:18 > 0:29:23a place he could focus his musical genius and compose.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25VIOLIN MUSIC
0:29:31 > 0:29:33In the 16th and 17th century,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37Cremona was in the vanguard of musical instrument making.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41It is no coincidence that in Monteverdi's Vespers, he employs
0:29:41 > 0:29:44instruments that had never before been heard in church music.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Throughout his life, Monteverdi was delighted
0:29:47 > 0:29:50and intrigued by new instruments and their possibilities.
0:29:55 > 0:30:02# Sancta Maria
0:30:02 > 0:30:09# Ora pro nobis... #
0:30:13 > 0:30:18Monteverdi seems to really understand the dynamics of each instrument,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21almost as if he played it. And perhaps he did
0:30:21 > 0:30:25because musicians of the time were multi-instrumentalists.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33What Monteverdi is doing in bringing these instruments
0:30:33 > 0:30:37into this piece is he's bringing in new sound worlds, new colour,
0:30:37 > 0:30:41he's being deliberately controversial and he's using
0:30:41 > 0:30:46those instruments in a way that has never been done before.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49I mean, it's completely pioneering stuff.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54The cornet was the most favoured wind instrument of its time
0:30:54 > 0:30:59and considered to come closest to the sound of the human voice.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02And the human voice was the ultimate yardstick.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09# Sancta Maria... #
0:31:09 > 0:31:14The tenor sackbut can play as many notes as the voices of the time
0:31:14 > 0:31:18and it could play as quickly and as virtuosic as the violin.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30He gave us lots of notes to play and...
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Yeah, we play them with joy, oh, we love it.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47I find something new in every performance.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50It's a brilliant piece of music.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00The use of instruments here is truly revolutionary.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Monteverdi is like some kind of magician, constantly producing
0:32:04 > 0:32:07new, surprising things from his copious bag of tricks.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10You know, I would really love to have been there, in Mantua,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13listening to Vespers and actually seeing the reaction
0:32:13 > 0:32:15of Duke Vincenzo and his congregation.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23The church and the Duke's palace had been built by his father, Guillermo,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25who was passionate about sacred music
0:32:25 > 0:32:27and designed the entire building around the organ.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33This was Vincenzo's private chapel.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36And if the Duke ever heard Monteverdi's musicians
0:32:36 > 0:32:38perform the Vespers, it would have been here.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45This is a theatrical space
0:32:45 > 0:32:49and Monteverdi responded with his characteristic dramatic flair.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51He placed one choir behind me,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54an organist on this balcony, at the far end of the church
0:32:54 > 0:32:58another choir, and here, a group of instrumentalists,
0:32:58 > 0:33:02a technique known as cori spezzati - split choirs.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Monteverdi starts Nisi Dominus with full choir,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22the two choirs singing together.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27Then we have a sequence where we have the first choir giving us
0:33:27 > 0:33:31all the words with great rhythmic vitality and contrasts.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41And then this is handed over to the other choir,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44throwing a sound from one end of the church to the other.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49So we have the two choirs really oscillating from one to the other,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52fighting rhythms, one of them lyrical and smoother
0:33:52 > 0:33:54and the other one jagged and vibrant.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09And the whole effect is one of you don't know where to listen
0:34:09 > 0:34:11and your mind is taken in all sorts of places.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14It would have made the congregation sit up and listen.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17They'd never heard, really, anything like this.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Monteverdi loved these theatrical special effects.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26In a section of the Vespers called Audi Coelum,
0:34:26 > 0:34:30he employs an echo effect that had caused a sensation
0:34:30 > 0:34:32when he'd used it in his operas.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36With all its cameras and sound recording equipment,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39the church where we are recording the music seems an ideal location
0:34:39 > 0:34:41to experiment with this effect.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Five, four, three...
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Harry, can we see how this echo effect works in practice?
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Yes, we've got Jeremy singing the main tenor part
0:34:49 > 0:34:52and Mark next to him is going to sing the echo.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53Right, here we go.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58# Ut
0:34:58 > 0:35:04# Benedicam
0:35:04 > 0:35:12# Dicam... #
0:35:12 > 0:35:16So, Mark is the echo repeated, exactly the same notes,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18but he's cut the word in half.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21He has, he's just repeating the last two syllables of "benedicam",
0:35:21 > 0:35:23but actually, in the process of doing that,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25he's constructing his own word, "dicam".
0:35:25 > 0:35:30- So, benedicam - I may bless thee. Dicam - I shall tell.- I speak.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Now, we could be more theatrical, couldn't we?
0:35:32 > 0:35:35- We could take Mark away from Jeremy, further away.- We have to.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38- To create a wonderful effect. - A bit more spooky.
0:35:40 > 0:35:41So he's now halfway down the nave
0:35:41 > 0:35:44and we are going to do a separate section here.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Yes, this is really interesting because Monteverdi, with the echo,
0:35:47 > 0:35:50repeats a couple of syllables, constructing a new word.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Here, actually, he repeats the same word but with a different meaning.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Coelos, maria - heavens and seas,
0:35:57 > 0:36:01- and the echo repeats Maria - Mary.- Mary.
0:36:02 > 0:36:09# Maria
0:36:09 > 0:36:17# Maria
0:36:17 > 0:36:22# Maria
0:36:22 > 0:36:27# Maria
0:36:27 > 0:36:33# Maria
0:36:33 > 0:36:39# Maria... #
0:36:39 > 0:36:42That's already more theatrical, isn't it? Could we hide him?
0:36:42 > 0:36:45- That would be even better still. - Because you're not conducting,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48- so they could do it by ear. - He could be anywhere.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53- Everything is by telepathy.- So we can put Mark right hidden away, then.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55And you're going to do a larger section of the piece.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58- Yes, we're going to start from the Ut benedicam.- Good luck, Mark.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03# Ut
0:37:03 > 0:37:10# Benedicam
0:37:10 > 0:37:17# Dicam
0:37:17 > 0:37:23# Dic nam ista pulchra ut luna
0:37:23 > 0:37:30# Electa ut sol, replet laetitia
0:37:30 > 0:37:36# Terras... #
0:37:36 > 0:37:38It's an extremely effective device.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42I think it's really intended to convey God answering back to
0:37:42 > 0:37:45someone's prayers, and this is a wonderful idea really,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48that you offer up your prayer and something comes back.
0:37:48 > 0:37:55# Maria
0:37:55 > 0:38:03# Maria
0:38:03 > 0:38:08# Maria
0:38:08 > 0:38:14# Maria
0:38:14 > 0:38:20# Maria
0:38:20 > 0:38:25# Maria... #
0:38:25 > 0:38:29Exploring these beautiful lakes that surround Mantua,
0:38:29 > 0:38:33it's difficult to believe the place was such a torment for Monteverdi.
0:38:33 > 0:38:34But after 20 years' service,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37he was becoming increasingly desperate
0:38:37 > 0:38:39to escape from the Mantuan court.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42For a composer at this time, there were only two possible
0:38:42 > 0:38:46employers - the aristocracy or the Church.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50Monteverdi didn't want to swap one self-obsessed prince for another,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53which left him only one recourse - sacred music.
0:39:02 > 0:39:03By the autumn of 1610,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Monteverdi's plan is ready to be put into action.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09He's finished the Vespers, he's had them printed,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12and now he intends to take them to the very top.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Rome.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29Five days' difficult journey away by carriage,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Rome was a city three times the size of Mantua, and the centre
0:39:33 > 0:39:37of political and religious power, not just in Italy but in Europe.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41He was hoping to present his new,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44hot-off-the-press book of sacred music to the Pope.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Maybe through the marvel of his work,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49he could secure a new position as a composer working for the Vatican
0:39:49 > 0:39:52and thus escape the clutches of Vincenzo.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07He certainly didn't want Vincenzo to know what he was doing.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09He arrived in secret and avoided
0:40:09 > 0:40:12staying at the Gonzaga Roman residence,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15which would have been the done thing for a man in his position.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Unfortunately he was spotted,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20by a Mantuan court official called Bissolati,
0:40:20 > 0:40:24who rather sneakily wrote on the 7th of October,
0:40:24 > 0:40:28"By chance this morning I ran into Signor Claudio Monteverdi.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30"He's been staying in Rome for three days
0:40:30 > 0:40:34"but has avoided being seen or heard of by us.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38"He confesses he's been staying in a country inn."
0:40:38 > 0:40:39He'd been rumbled.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47CHOIR SINGS
0:40:57 > 0:41:00The Pope that Monteverdi had hoped to present his work to was this man,
0:41:00 > 0:41:04Pope Paul V, born Camillo Borghese.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06He's rather a sly-looking fellow,
0:41:06 > 0:41:09although the sceptical nature of his stare was probably as much
0:41:09 > 0:41:12to do with his short-sightedness as it was a guide to his temperament.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16The Pope had visited the Duke of Mantua a couple of years earlier,
0:41:16 > 0:41:18probably had heard some of Monteverdi's music,
0:41:18 > 0:41:19but on this occasion,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22despite the composer dedicating the entire work to him -
0:41:22 > 0:41:26even printing the papal coat of arms on the title page -
0:41:26 > 0:41:31the two men never met, and Monteverdi left Rome unfulfilled.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52The original printing of the Vespers is not just one book,
0:41:52 > 0:41:54but seven separate volumes,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57one for each of the different vocal parts plus yet another book
0:41:57 > 0:41:59with the instrumental music in it.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03Complete sets are scarce,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05but here at the International Music Museum in Bologna,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08they have eight beautifully preserved books, and I've asked
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Harry and some of The Sixteen to join me here to take a look at them.
0:42:21 > 0:42:22This is a very exciting moment,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24because we have in front of us
0:42:24 > 0:42:28the original 1610 printing of Monteverdi's Vespers.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30So, Harry, take me through this, there are eight books here,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33what's odd and interesting about this is they're all separate.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Does that make it more difficult?
0:42:35 > 0:42:37It is, you've got individual singer partbooks,
0:42:37 > 0:42:42and for us modern singers, we're used to seeing everything into a score.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44Mark, you've performed from partbooks.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46Yes, on occasion, it's very, very tricky.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50We're conditioned as modern singers to have the entire score
0:42:50 > 0:42:53in front of us, everything that's being sung, so you've got
0:42:53 > 0:42:57points of reference in terms of the timing of what you're singing.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00- Especially when you're not singing. - When there are rests.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05So this only has the tenor lines, it looks much more linear,
0:43:05 > 0:43:07you've got more of a sense of the shape of your line,
0:43:07 > 0:43:11cos it's not cluttered by the other lines, but on the other hand,
0:43:11 > 0:43:14you've got no sense of what anybody else is doing, so you'd have to
0:43:14 > 0:43:19either learn it in rehearsal or just do it with instinct and your ears.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23Do you think that made a different type of listening, Harry?
0:43:23 > 0:43:27Oh, very much so, I think singers in those days had to be well aware of
0:43:27 > 0:43:31what their neighbour was singing, and to relate to all the parts around us.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Today we have everything in front of us, it's much more easy to score,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37but in those days they'd have to listen, so that made the whole art
0:43:37 > 0:43:41of music-making really quite exciting, I would have thought.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43For me, that looks...
0:43:43 > 0:43:45sort of difficult to read, rhythmically.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47I can sort of picture the notes, but there are no bar lines
0:43:47 > 0:43:50for instance, so is it difficult to read?
0:43:50 > 0:43:53Well, yes, it is, obviously we know this now so it's ingrained in us.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56If I was to see this for the first time I'm not sure what
0:43:56 > 0:43:58I would make of it, it would be quite different
0:43:58 > 0:44:01- to what I've seen. - I mean, as an exercise...
0:44:03 > 0:44:04..in musicality,
0:44:04 > 0:44:09would you ever ask your singers to sing from partbooks, for instance?
0:44:09 > 0:44:12- I'd love to have the time. - Yes, quite!
0:44:12 > 0:44:14- Can we try it out?- Sure.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58That's beautiful. Is it odd? Cos you know the piece.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00It is, it's like a sentence without punctuation.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03The next verse is also sung by soprano, not in this part
0:45:03 > 0:45:08but in the second soprano partbook, and then the next solo verse
0:45:08 > 0:45:11is sung by a male, and it's here in the tenor.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16So, Simon, I think this is a perfect opportunity for us to sing together!
0:45:16 > 0:45:18This is a ritual humiliation.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22I'll just hide behind you two.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03- Very croaky, I'm so sorry. - Absolutely wonderful.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05- Like a frog singing! - Wasn't that great, though?
0:46:05 > 0:46:09The last section of the Vespers is a bravura 17-minute setting
0:46:09 > 0:46:10of the Magnificat,
0:46:10 > 0:46:14Mary's great hymn of praise to God the Father from Saint Luke's Gospel.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17"Magnificat anima mea Dominum."
0:46:17 > 0:46:21Or, as the King James Bible has it, "My soul doth magnify the Lord."
0:46:50 > 0:46:54The Magnificat is the big moment at the end of the Vespers service.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58The demands he makes on both singers and instrumentalists is amazing.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00It's really quite extreme.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10We start with "Et exsultavit" with two tenors, really virtuosic.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52It seems that he had a bit of a love for the tenors
0:47:52 > 0:47:53that he was using at the time.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56And they really get to show off, it's really flashy.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02It's the equivalent of a Ferrari, it doesn't hold anything back.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23This is the crux of everything,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25and Monteverdi certainly delivers that to us musically,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29because he presents us with movements for full choir,
0:48:29 > 0:48:31incredibly virtuosic instrumental parts
0:48:31 > 0:48:33that dart around all over the place...
0:48:36 > 0:48:41..movements for different voices, and it's an incredible work of art.
0:48:46 > 0:48:51With the Magnificat, Monteverdi shows himself as a true modernist.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55This is music that transcends earthly concerns -
0:48:55 > 0:48:58the financial problems, the health problems,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01the petty world of the Gonzaga court and its autocratic duke.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06This is the height of virtuoso writing,
0:49:06 > 0:49:11the moment we come face to face with Monteverdi, the great composer.
0:49:24 > 0:49:29This bass duet, in which the two bass parts have almost
0:49:29 > 0:49:31a jousting duet to see who can sing
0:49:31 > 0:49:33the loudest and highest
0:49:33 > 0:49:36on the words "Quia fecit mihi magna,"
0:49:36 > 0:49:39which means "Who has done me great things."
0:49:56 > 0:49:58The bass part is quite heroic at times.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00It goes so fast that if you lose your place
0:50:00 > 0:50:02you'll never find your way back in again.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27Halfway through the Magnificat we hear the words
0:50:27 > 0:50:31"Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles."
0:50:31 > 0:50:35"He has set down the mighty from their seat and exalted the humble."
0:50:35 > 0:50:37Given the Duke's behaviour over the years,
0:50:37 > 0:50:39I wonder what was going through Monteverdi's mind
0:50:39 > 0:50:42as he composed the music for that particular passage.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19He starts with the cornets, very high and very florid,
0:51:19 > 0:51:21and he makes it really quite fragile at some places.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40And then he hands that over to the violins,
0:51:40 > 0:51:45which then produce a sort of otherworldly texture,
0:51:45 > 0:51:47it's such a quiet sound.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01He was very much the avant-garde of that time,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04and it's a use of so many different techniques,
0:52:04 > 0:52:06being incredibly inventive
0:52:06 > 0:52:09and bringing the theatrical elements in, and it's really quite daring.
0:53:02 > 0:53:07Then in 1612, Duke Vincenzo dies, aged 49.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11The official reason given is fever, but the rumour is syphilis.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14He is succeeded by his son Francesco, who found that his
0:53:14 > 0:53:16father's spendthrift habits had left
0:53:16 > 0:53:19the family coffers almost entirely empty.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21There were 800,000 scudi in debt -
0:53:21 > 0:53:24that's the equivalent of a cool £20 million.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26Many of the servants had to be dismissed,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30including Monteverdi and a third of the music department.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34With a malicious flourish worthy of his father,
0:53:34 > 0:53:39Francesco specifies that Monteverdi be sacked when he least expects it.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Duke Vincenzo was buried in a fine marble tomb,
0:53:46 > 0:53:48and his composer was unemployed.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53When he left the Mantuan court, his letters show him to be hurt,
0:53:53 > 0:53:55and not a little indignant.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58But the final indignity was still to come.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05Somewhere round about here,
0:54:05 > 0:54:10close to what is now state road number ten, nearby the delightful
0:54:10 > 0:54:14small town of Sanguinetto, he was robbed by three bandits.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16Here is part of his own vivid account.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18"Suddenly in the road, two men appeared,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21"with a long musket apiece, firing pin down.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24"Without saying a word, they lead our carriage to a field,
0:54:24 > 0:54:26"where there was a third man with a spike.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29"I was made to kneel and one of them, brandishing a gun,
0:54:29 > 0:54:30"demanded my purse.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32"They went through our luggage and,
0:54:32 > 0:54:34"taking whatever they wanted, made a big bundle.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38"They even robbed me of my cloak. A brand-new one of woven wool,
0:54:38 > 0:54:40"which I'd only just had made for me."
0:54:42 > 0:54:43Monteverdi returned to Cremona,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47where he spent a year without employment.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22He wants the big appointment, he has all the Vespers,
0:55:22 > 0:55:25so it's a big calling card, it's a statement to say,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28"Here is a compilation of music which can be performed by anybody
0:55:28 > 0:55:32"who's got a choir and is something incredibly modern and really unique
0:55:32 > 0:55:34"to hear in the church."
0:55:53 > 0:55:55And then the current choirmaster of St Mark's,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58the grandest church in Venice, dies.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00Monteverdi applies for the job,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03and all the evidence points to the Vespers being
0:56:03 > 0:56:06the audition piece that secured him his post as master of music.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17For the next 30 years he lived and worked here at St Mark's,
0:56:17 > 0:56:21performing, composing and finally being paid.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24He never remarried, and eventually he took holy orders
0:56:24 > 0:56:26and became a priest.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37The Vespers is the most monumental masterpiece ever written really.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40It's grand, it's the most extraordinary piece
0:56:40 > 0:56:41that I've ever sung,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44and it's so joyful to sing, it really is.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54It's very expressive in its emotion,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58and that's wonderful for buttoned-up English singers, to abandon
0:56:58 > 0:57:02their reserve and really go for it and express themselves to the max.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16For us, The Sixteen,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19this is the most fantastic work to be able to perform,
0:57:19 > 0:57:22because, for me, it allows my wonderful singers to
0:57:22 > 0:57:24really express themselves, and it really does get to the heart.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Duke Vincenzo had now been dead for 30 years,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38but even from beyond the grave, he would determine the composer's fate.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46When he was 76, Monteverdi left Venice
0:57:46 > 0:57:49to pay one last visit to Mantua.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52He was still hoping to recover the money Duke Vincenzo owed him
0:57:52 > 0:57:55from more than three decades earlier.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58But, as his father had once predicted,
0:57:58 > 0:58:01the unhealthy Mantuan climate finally claimed him.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04He caught a fever and, returning home here to Venice,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07he died on the 29th of November, 1643.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16He's buried in the church behind me.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18An anonymous poet wrote of him,
0:58:18 > 0:58:21"My lords enjoyed cheerfully the sweetness of the music
0:58:21 > 0:58:23"of the never-enough-praised Monteverdi.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27"This truly great man who so adapted the musical notes to the words,
0:58:27 > 0:58:32"was born into this world so as to rule over the emotions of others.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35"Wherever in the future music is known,
0:58:35 > 0:58:37"then his music will be sighed for."