Claudio Monteverdi shown on the left is a composer from the Baroque Period. Monteverdi made three groups or types of music: madrigals,operas,and church-music. Madrigals are what Monteverdi worked on until he was in his forties and during that time he composed about nine books of madrigals. A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition of the Renaissance and early Baroque period. These are mostly unaccompanied and are polyphonic. Monteverdi finished his madrigal books in the years of:1587, 1590, 1592, 1603, 1605, 1614, 1619, 1638, and 1651. His operas were mostly completed while he was ill and it was much later in his composing career. It is estimated that Monteverdi composed a total of eighteen operas, but only about six of them survived.
His first opera that had a premier was L'Orfeo and it was performed in Mantua in 1607. It is said that this was the first opera to assign specific instruments to parts in an opera. His second opera is L'Arianna and is the most influential and famous pieces of the Baroque operas. Though many of his music has been lost throughout the years there are still some that are available if you look for them. Here is a printed version of part of the L'Orfeo piece and another one of his songs on audio.
His first opera that had a premier was L'Orfeo and it was performed in Mantua in 1607. It is said that this was the first opera to assign specific instruments to parts in an opera. His second opera is L'Arianna and is the most influential and famous pieces of the Baroque operas. Though many of his music has been lost throughout the years there are still some that are available if you look for them. Here is a printed version of part of the L'Orfeo piece and another one of his songs on audio.