Claudio Monteverdi

Midterm Exam

Due: Thursday, 5 March

Please write 4 15-minute essays (each no more than 3 typewritten pages, printed at 12-point pica, double spaced, or 750 words), chosen from the ones listed below:

1) Discuss Monteverdi's early career in Cremona and Mantua as a student and as a member of the  Gonzaga court.

2) Discuss the importance of Battista Guarini's Il pastor fido for the Ferrarese and Mantuan court and for the development of the madrigal at the end of the 16th century.

3) Compare Monteverdi's fourth and fifth books of madrigals in terms of style and organization.

4) Discuss the Artusi-Monteverdi controversy in terms of the shift in aesthetic principles that is represented by the two sides in the dispute.  Illustrate your essay with examples chosen from the repertory discussed by Artusi, as well as from the fourth and fifth books of madrigals and the Scherzi musicali of 1607.

5) Choose four madrigals from the third and fourth books that show different aspects of Monteverdi's developing style, and compare and contrast his approach in each of them.