Techniques Of Conducting Monteverdi's Middle And Late Choral Works

Claudio Monteverdi(1567-1643)was an Italian composer and an important transitional figure between the late Renaissance and Early Baroque periods Monteverdi' s musical creations mainly covered three areas: religious music,secular music and opera,among which choral works could be said to be the creative genre which he consistently worked with throughout his life.His works have both the humanism of the late Renaissance and the originality and exaggeration of the early Baroque period,and thus could be said to straddle two periods.The paper aims to explore how a choral conducting would interpret the style and characteristics of the middle and late choral works of Monteverdi through his two creations--the motet,Cantate Domino(SV293)and the madrigal,Cruda Amarilli(SV94).The whole essay is divided into four parts.The Introduction mainly expounds the significance of the chosen topic,the research method used,and the current state of research on the topic both in China and abroad.Part 1 introduces in full the historical background and state of Monteverdi' s middle and late choral works.Part 2 completes the analysis of the two selected choral works,the Cantate Domino(SV293)and the Cruda Amarilli(SV94),including the analysis of the structure of the compositions,thematic analysis and analysis of the technical difficulties.Part 3 expounds the basic contents of the conductor's gestures and his/her processing of the music.The conclusion is a macroscopic and concise summary of the points that have been made thus far.The reference materials,master and doctoral dissertations,newspapers and magazines,etc.make a useful supplement and make the essay more objective and persuasive.Parts 2 and 3 form the core of this essay.Through research and study,the author has found that Monteverdi' s choral works in the middle and late period add a large number of fast-running dissonant tones in order to achieve different harmonic color.Monteverdi' s music not only express praise for God,but also express the feelings of secular people.The composer hopes to express his emotions through lyrics and determines the direction of melody through emotion.In conclusion,how a conductor should grasp the style of Monteverdi' s middle and late choral works and lead a choir to perform his choral works better are the major contribution of this essay.It also provides a reference for later conductors of Monteverdi' s choral works from his middle and late period.