My Little Gnudren,
Old Gnu writes to you on the birthday of the great Italian composer of Mr. Claud John Anthony Greenmountain [1567-1643].
His father, Mr. Baldassare Greenmountain – let’s call him, Bald, for convenience – was a Barber-Surgeon. There are 2 interesting points to highlight here. Firstly, in those days you could combine a career giving haircuts with surgery. Not so today, when they are regarded as two distinctly skilled and separate professions. Although having said that, Old Gnu woke up after recent surgery [in the lower regions] to find that some hair was missing from an unexpected part of his body. Furthermore Mr. WakiPedia also suggests that Bald was a pharmacist. Secondly one wonders whether the clients of Mr. Greenmountain, the barber, had some trepidation going to a barber with his name, just in case he was in bad mood.
Back to Claud: he was a composer of the first order. But like the German genius of a later age, Mr. John S. Brook [1685-1750] his life was not without its considerable struggles.
At the age of 23 the genius young Claud became a court musician in Mantua where he composed furiously. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of Claud doing this. You’ll just have to take Old Gnu’s word for it. At the age of 32 he found time to marry a fine lady singer. She was also called Claud [Claudia]. As far as we know Claud never had any affairs but produced two nice sons with Claud. So, on this front he turned out to be very boring by standards of modern artists and composers.
A great deal was demanded of him in Mantua. The strain of hard work was compounded by the death of his wife in 1607. He felt unappreciated and latterly he had to resort to begging for his salary to be paid on time.
In 1613 Claud got his dream job at St. Mark’s Venice. Here the authorities really appreciated him. He was given freedom to do work and undertake commissions from elsewhere. Claud more or less lived happily ever after. We know he was happy because when he got a letter from this man, the really famous Duke someone or other back in Mantua …
Some people think he was called Ferdinando Gonzaga
… offering him better terms for his old job, the good Claud politely told him where to get off.
But the life of a genius is never an easy one. Back in Mantua one famous theorist whose name is on the tip of my tongue… he’s a well-known household name… anyway, we know he looked like this:
…criticized Claud’s use of harmony and other things besides. The young Claud, thank God, responded by ignoring him and continuing to compose. But there obviously came a point when Claud, having proved his considerable abilities, had had enough of criticism to the back teeth. He was no longer willing to take it lying down.
On the 9th June 1637 he wrote a complaint to one of the Venetian officials saying: “I, Claudio Monteverdi … come humbly … to set forth to you how Domenicato Aldegati … a bass, yesterday morning … at the time of the greatest concourse of people … spoke these exact words …‘The Director of Music comes from a brood of cut-throat bastards, a thieving, f- -king, he-goat …. and I sh-t on him and whoever protects him …’ ”
From this we can gather 3 things.
- Mr. Aldegati [the bass singer] was angry. I’m sorry we have no picture of him.
- This could have been due to the fact that Claud was an exacting musician who demanded the best and this rubbed Mr. Aldegati up the wrong way.
- Claud, obviously thought enough was enough and lashed out in an appropriate letter to the appropriate authority.
In 1632 the devout Claud was ordained a priest, but continued with his musical responsibilities, and thankfully continued to produce some of his greatest secular works. But he drew the line at becoming a worship leader which he obviously thought was beyond him. The great Reverend Claud died in 1643 and was buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. This Basilica is full of monuments to distinguished Venetians.
But as one guide told Old Gnu back in the late 1990s, most visitors come to look at the Titian altar pieces and the simple grave tucked away in a small side chapel.
Vetus Pater Gnu – die autem natalis Claudio Monteverdi
Musicorum et Theologia
Turris LA
XV Mensis Maii MMXX
