Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, 1610), or simply the Vespers of 1610, as it is commonly called, is a musical composition by Claudio Monteverdi. Vespers is a term taken from the Hours of the Divine Office and has remained structurally unchanged for the past 1500 years. The Vespers are built around several Biblical texts that are traditionally used as part of the liturgy for several Marian feasts in the Roman Catholic church; the introductory Deus in adjutorum (Psalm 69), five psalms taken from Psalms 109-147, sacred concertos between the psalms, a hymn, a setting of the Magnificat text, and the concluding Benedicamus Domino. Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, 1640, by Bernardo Strozzi Claudio Monteverdi (May 15, 1567 (baptised) – November 29, 1643) was an Italian composer, violinist and singer. ... Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. ... The Bible (Hebrew: תנ״ך tanakh, Greek: η Βίβλος hē biblos) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Word of God, The Word Scripture, Scripture), from Greek (τα) βίβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the name used by Jews and Christians for their (differing but overlapping) canons of sacred texts. ... From the Greek word λειτουργια, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning the work of the people, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), a daily activity such... Blessed Virgin Mary A traditional Catholic picture sometimes displayed in homes. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

History and Context

Monteverdi’s Marian Vespers of 1610, his first sacred work since his very first publication twenty-eight years prior, stands out for its assimilation of both old and new styles, although these contrasting styles cannot be exactly classified as prima pratica and seconda pratica, per se. The Vespers were published in July of 1610, in combination with a six-voice mass that parodies a motet of Nicolas Gombert, In illo tempore loquante Jesu. Nearly four hundred years after its completion, the precise intentions of this large work are not clearly known or understood. This has been a great topic of debate among musicologists for decades, and it has even been suggested by Graham Dixon that Monteverdi’s setting of the Vespers is more suited towards use for the feast of Saint Barbara, claiming, for example, that the texts taken from Song of Songs are applicable to any female saint. He goes on to write that formatting the Vespers to fit a Marian feast makes the work more "marketable". There are several facts that support this view: There are just two Marian songs in the whole Vespers; Audi Coelum and Ave Maris Stella,(The sonata could very easily be rearranged to any saint's name) and the text of the Duo Seraphim is connected with Saint Barbara (because she is generally connected with Trinity). Prima pratica, literally first practice, refers to early Baroque music which looks more to the style of Palestrina, or the style codified by Gioseffo Zarlino, than to more modern styles. ... Nicolas Gombert (c. ... St. ...

The Vespers was first printed in Venice, Italy, in 1610 when the composer was working at the ducal court in Mantua, Italy. The historical record does not indicate whether Monteverdi actually performed the Vespers either in Mantua or Venice; the work may have been written as an audition piece for posts at Venice (Monteverdi became maestro di cappella at St. Mark's basilica in Venice in 1613) and Rome (where the composer was not offered a post). Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venexia) , the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice in Italy. ... // Events January 7 - Galileo Galilei discovers the Galilean moons of Jupiter. ... Mantua (in Italian Mantova, in the local dialect of Emiliano-Romagnolo language Mantua) is an important city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province with the same name. ... St. ... Events January - Galileo observes Neptune, but mistakes it for a star and so is not credited with its discovery. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ...

The Vespers is a monumental work of music, calling for a choir large enough and skillful enough to cover up to 10 vocal parts in some movements and split into separate choirs in others while accompanying seven different soloists during the course of the piece. Interestingly, solo parts are included for violin and cornetto, but the ripieno instrumentation is not specified by Monterverdi. Additionally, Monteverdi did not specify a specific set of plainchant antiphons to insert before each psalm and the concluding Magnificat. This allows the performers to tailor the music according to the available instrumental forces and the occasion of the performance (the particular feast day's liturgy would have included suggested antiphons that could be chanted before Monterverdi's psalm settings). The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart, the lowest being the G just below middle C. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. ... Cornetto may refer to A musical instrument; see Cornett A branded frozen ice-cream cone see Cornetto (ice-cream) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Ripieno (Italian for stuffing) or tutti (Italian for everybody) is the larger of the two ensembles in the concerto grosso. ... Broadly speaking, plainsong is the name given to the body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. ... This article is about the musical term. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Sandro Boticelli. ...

Monterverdi's unique approach to each movement of the Vespers earned the work a place in history, The work not only presents intimate, prayerful moments within its monumental scale, but it also incorporates secular music in this decidedly religious performance and its individual movements present an array of musical forms - sonata, motet, hymn, and psalm - without losing focus. The Vespers achieves overall unity by building each movement on the traditional Gregorian plainchant for each text, which becomes a cantus firmus in Monteverdi's setting. Sonata form refers to both the standard layout of an entire musical composition and more specifically to the standardized form of the first movement. ... In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ... A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... Gregorian chant is also known as plainchant or plainsong and is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed in the Catholic church, mainly during the period 800-1000. ... In music, cantus firmus is the basic material to be set using polyphony. ...

Structure of the Work

• Versicle & Response: Deus in adjutorium meum intende- Domine ad adjuvandum me festina
  • This opening movement makes use of musical elements from the introduction to Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607)
  • soloist: "O God make speed to save me."
  • response: "O Lord make haste to help me."

• Psalm: Dixit Dominus (Psalm 109): six voice choir and six instruments

• Motet: Nigra sum (from Song of Solomon): solo tenor with choir

• Psalm: Laudate pueri (Psalm 112): eight voice choir and organ

• Motet: Pulchra es (from Song of Solomon): vocal duet

• Psalm: Laetatus sum (Psalm 121): five voice choir

• Motet: Duo Seraphim: vocal duet leading into trio
  • The text Duo Seraphim ("Two angels were calling one to the other...") begins as a duet. When the text mentions the Trinity, a third tenor joins. All three sing in unison at the words, "these three are one."

• Psalm: Nisi Dominus (Psalm 126): ten voice choir

• Motet: Audi coelum: two tenor soloists singing call and response ("prima ad una voce sola")
  • This movement features especially artful Latin wordplay between the two tenors. The echoic response answers the eight petitions of the supplicant, the first example of which is given below:

 Audi coelum verba mea, Hear, O Heaven, my words plena desiderio full of desire et perfusa gaudio. and suffused with joy. Audio. I hear. 

• Psalm: Lauda Jerusalem (Psalm 147): two choirs of three voices plus tenor cantus firmus

• Sonata sopra "Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis": sopranos and instruments

• Hymn: Ave maris stella: two choirs and soloists
  • This hymn puns on Mary's Latin name, Maria, which is also the word for sea (plural maris) and involves all the musicians, although not all at once.

• Magnificat

Events January 20 - Tidal wave swept along the Bristol Channel, killing 2000 people. ... In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high voice (although not as high as the modern countertenor). ... The Casavant pipe organ at Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Montreal The organ is a keyboard instrument with one or more manuals, and usually a pedalboard. ... It has been suggested that History of the Latin language be merged into this article or section. ... Sandro Boticelli. ...

Position of the Motets

The position of the motets Nigra Sum, Pulchra es, Duo Seraphim and Audi Coelum is disputed. The title page of the first print of the score suggests that they are not part of the Vespers, but intended as separate Sacred Concertos. However, their place in between the psalms indicates that they were intended to be part of the Vespers, but could also be performed on other occasions, such as at the court of the Duke of Mantua, Monteverdi's employer.

Recordings

• René Jacobs conducting, Concerto Vocale, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Maria Cristina Kiehr, Barbara Borden, Andreas Scholl, John Bowen, Andrew Murgatroyd, Víctor Torres, Antonio Abete, Jelle Draijer. Harmonia mundi France - 901566.67 (1996).
• Hans-Christoph Rademann conducting, Ensemble "Alte Musik Dresden", Bläser Collegium Leipzig, Dresdner Kammerchor, Nele Gramß, Johanna Koslowski, Markus Brutscher, Wilfried Jochens, Martin Krumbiegel, Egbert Junghanns, Stephan Schreckenberger. RAUMKLANG RK 9605 (live recording).
• John Eliot Gardiner conducting, English Baroque Soloists, His Majesties Sagbutts and Cornetts, Monteverdi Choir, London Oratory Junior Choir, Ann Monoyios, Marinella Pennicchi, Michael Chance, Nigel Robson, Mark Tucker, Sandro Naglia, Bryn Terfel, Alastair Miles. Polygram Records - #429565 (1990)
• Konrad Junghänel conducting, Cantus Cölln. Harmonia mundi France HMC 801813.14
• Jordi Savall conducting, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Coro del Centro di Musica Antica Padova. Astree E 8719 (1989)
• Andrew Parrott conducting, Taverner Consort, Choir & Players. Virgin Classics - 5616622 (1984)
• Gabriel Garrido conducting, Ensemble Elyma, Coro Madrigalia, Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse. K617 (1999)