Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, 1610), or simply the Vespers of 1610, as it is commonly called, is a musical composition by Claudio Monteverdi built around several Biblical texts that are traditionally used as part of the liturgy for several Marian feasts in the Roman Catholic church.

History and Context

The Vespers was first printed in Venice, Italy, in 1610 when the composer was working at the ducal court in Mantua, Italy. The historical record does not indicate whether Monteverdi actually performed the Vespers either in Mantua or Venice; the work may have been written as an audition piece for posts at Venice (Monteverdi became maestro di cappella at St. Mark's basilica in Venice in 1613) and Rome (where the composer was not offered a post).

The Vespers is a monumental work of music, calling for a choir large enough and skillful enough to cover up to 10 vocal parts in some movements and split into separate choirs in others while accompanying seven different soloists during the course of the piece. Interestingly, solo parts are included for violin and cornetto, but the ripieno instrumentation is not specified by Monterverdi. Additionally, Monteverdi did not specify a specific set of plainchant antiphons to insert before each psalm and the concluding Magnificat. This allows the performers to tailor the music according to the available instrumental forces and the occasion of the performance (the particular feast day's liturgy would have included suggested antiphons that could be chanted before Monterverdi's psalm settings).

Monterverdi's unique approach to each movement of the Vespers earned the work a place in history, The work not only presents intimate, prayerful moments within its monumental scale, but it also incorporates secular music in this decidedly religious performance and its individual movements present an array of musical forms--sonata, motet, hymn, and psalm--without losing focus. The Vespers achieves overall unity by building each movement on the traditional Gregorian plainchant for each text, which becomes a cantus firmus in Monteverdi's setting.

Structure of the Work

• Versicle & Response: Deus in adiutorium - Domine ad adiuvandu
  • This opening movement makes use of musical elements from the introduction to Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607)
  • soloist: "O God make speed to save me."
  • response: "O Lord make haste to help me."

• Psalm: Dixit Dominus (Psalm 109): six voice choir and six instruments

• Motet: Nigra sum (from Song of Solomon): solo tenor with choir

• Psalm: Laudate pueri (Psalm 112): eight voice choir and organ

• Motet: Pulchra es (from Song of Solomon): vocal duet

• Psalm: Laetatus sum (Psalm 121): five voice choir

• Motet: Duo Seraphim: vocal duet leading into trio
  • The text Duo Seraphim ("Two angels were calling one to the other...") begins as a duet. When the text mentions the Trinity, a third tenor joins. All three sing in unison at the words, "these three are one."

• Psalm: Nisi Dominus (Psalm 126): ten voice choir

• Motet: Audi coelum: two tenor soloists singing call and response ("prima ad una voce sola")
  • This movement features especially artful Latin wordplay between the two tenors. The echoic response answers the eight petitions of the supplicant, the first example of which is given below:

Audi coelom verba mea,             Hear, O Heaven, my words
plena desiderio                    full of desire
et perfusa gaudio.                 and suffused with joy. 
             Audio.                                  I hear. 

• Psalm: Lauda Jerusalem (Psalm 147): two choirs of three voices plus tenor cantus firmus

• Sonata sopra "Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis": sopranos and instruments

• Hymn: Ave maris stella: two choirs and soloists
  • This hymn puns on Mary's Latin name, Maria, which is also the word for sea (plural maris) and involves all the musicians, although not all at once.

• Magnificat

Recordings

• Boston Baroque, Martin Pearlman conducting. Telarc - 80453 (1997)
• English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner conducting. Polygram Records - #429565 (1990)
• La Capella Reial, Jordi Savall conducting. Astree E 8719 (1989)
• Taverner Consort, Choir & Players, Andrew Parrott conducting. Virgin Classics - 5616622 (1984)