Listening Journal: L'Orfeo by Monteverdi (first 4 minutes)

Because of the length of Monteverdi's opera, L'Orfeo, I could not analyze the entire piece. However, I found an excerpt from the opera that includes only the opening. A recording is provided below:

Instrumentation

• Purely instrumental from 0:00-2:20
• Female voice in latter half (opera style singing; emphasis on vibrato)
• Chordophones
• Violin consort (with cello?)
• Viola da Gamba
• Lute (?) - looks like a small guitar
• Theorbo (?)
• Harp
• Membranophones
• Drum
• Aerophones
• Brass:
• Horn
• Sackbut
• Wind:
• Dulcian (?)
• Recorder
• Flute

Meter/Tempo/Rhythm

• First melody:  
• 4/4 with strong beats on one
• Allegro ~135
• Hardly any syncopation, all parts on beat
• Second melody (starting at 1:40):
• 4/4 
• Slightly slower but still allegro ~120
• More syncopation, notes tied over strong beats in instrumental parts
• Rubato with singing; less clear of a meter

Melody

• First melody (0:00-1:40) 
• Conjunct runs, yet there are disjunct leaps
• Present in higher parts - violins, horns
• Not a very large range - stays near tonal center
• Second melody (1:40-2:17 and 3:10-3:26 and 4:10-4:25)
• Also conjunct within the many stepwise runs, but disjunct considering the leaps
• Still present in higher parts - mainly violins
• Not a very large range - stays near tonal center
• Third melody (2:18-3:10 and 3:27-4:09)
• Very disjunct
• Belonging to the female vocalist 
• Large range

Texture

• During purely instrumental sections, texture is homophonic, as there is one melody line with harmonizing parts below it
• Texture is similar when the vocalist is singing, but she is accompanied by only one instrument (harp or theorbo)

Tonality

• The first melody definitely has a major tonality
• The second melody is more minor, yet has major cadences
• The third melody is minor as well

Structure 

• The general structure of the piece is as follows:
• Part A: 0:00-0:33 (brass)
• Part A': 0:33-1:05 (winds and strings)
• Part A'': 1:05-1:39 (brass, winds, and strings all together)
• Part B: 1:40-2:17 
• Part C: 2:19-3:10 (vocalist)
• Part B': 3:11-3:26 (shorter version of original Part B)
• Part D: 3:26-4:10 (vocalist again, yet different melody and text)
• Part B': 4:11-4:26 
• Follows some sort of modified strophic form, as parts A and B repeat with only minor changes

Context

• Italian opera
• Secular
• Composed by Claudio Monteverdi 
• Follows the Greek legend of Orpheus (hence, L'Orfeo)
• Text depiction
• First form of musical 'drama'
• Example of Monteverdi's Second Practice
• composed this by combining all of the oldest and newest techniques
• this was rejected at first, then came into practice as it was accepted
• Singer includes lots of embellishment
• Orchestra exists!
• Instruments and singers together