Claudio Monteverdi - The Innovator

Talent was apparent early in the life of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). He published his first collection of sacred works in 1582, at the age of fifteen. He held the position of maestro di cappella at two places during his life: at the court of Mantua (1590-1612) and then at San Marco in Venice, one of the most desirable posts in all Italy at the time. Monteverdi's innovations marked the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque and he and Heinrich Schutz are the most important composers of the seventeenth century.