Books › The Violin and its Music, 1881 › scan 165
Scan 165
The Violin and its Music, 1881
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 145. See the scan on archive.org.
1he early became famous as one of the greatest players. The fame of Monteverde reaching the ears of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, led to the engagement of the Violist by the Duke. This Duke Vincenzo, noted as a lover of music and the arts, is perhaps best remembered as having murdered his tutor, the Admirable Crichton, in the streets of Mantua in 1582; mention of which serves to remind us of that strange blending of crime and culture, common to the age of the Italian despots.
3Claude Monteverde appears to have entered the duke's service shortly after Vincenzo succeeded to the dukedom, and he remained until the year 1612, the date of the duke's death. He was instructed in composition by Ingegneri, the Court Chapel-master, who discovered in his pupil remarkable abilities, which he exerted himself to develope. He succeeded to the position of his master at the Mantuan Court in 1603, when he seems to have fixed his attention upon opening up new ground in relation to composition, which contributed much to the complete transformation of the art. His opera L'Orfeo was the first of its order ever printed with music, and contains the earliest known reference to the Violin as an orchestral instrument. The structure of this infantile Musical Drama, so unlike that of the modern Opera, is well worthy of our attention. Accompaniment, in the sense in which we understand that term, there was
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