Claudio Monteverdi was the leading composer of the 17th century. He made the first opera "Orpheus" in 1607.
Claudio worked for years
on that incredible experiment,
the opera, the very first one,
celebrating now four centuries,
but working too hard on it,
his poor wife got lost and died,
and Monteverdi never could get over it.
His opera was the supreme success,
it started avalanches of successes;
but just as Orpheus failed
in getting back his wife,
so Monteverdi lost his wife forever.
He resigned and moved to Venice
to commence a different career
as church musician in St. Mark's
and was successful all his life as such,
for thirty years encore,
but never, and not even in his finest music,
managed to retrieve the unjust theft
of his beloved wife from death,
the falsest thief of all,
who never can get punished
and never will return a stolen life.
Poetry by Christian Lanciai
Read 461 times
Written on 2007-12-30 at 22:00
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Monteverdi, Orpheus and their lost wives
Claudio worked for years
on that incredible experiment,
the opera, the very first one,
celebrating now four centuries,
but working too hard on it,
his poor wife got lost and died,
and Monteverdi never could get over it.
His opera was the supreme success,
it started avalanches of successes;
but just as Orpheus failed
in getting back his wife,
so Monteverdi lost his wife forever.
He resigned and moved to Venice
to commence a different career
as church musician in St. Mark's
and was successful all his life as such,
for thirty years encore,
but never, and not even in his finest music,
managed to retrieve the unjust theft
of his beloved wife from death,
the falsest thief of all,
who never can get punished
and never will return a stolen life.
Poetry by Christian Lanciai
Read 461 times
Written on 2007-12-30 at 22:00
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email (requires login) Print text
