In this composer’s 1638 “Lament of the Nymph,” outer sections for men’s trio surround a middle section for a solo soprano singing “at the tempo of her emotion.” For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this composer whose operatic setting of the Ariadne myth is lost, except for a five-voice lament in which the title character asks to die. His best-known opera begins with a brass “toccata.”
ANSWER: Claudio Monteverdi [or Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi] (The opera is L’Orfeo.)
[10e] Monteverdi spent his last 30 years in this present-day city, where opera theaters and season tickets were invented for shows that coincided with its masked Carnival.
ANSWER: Venice [or Venezia]
[10h] At least three Monteverdi libretti were written by Giulio, the adoptive father of this Venetian singer and composer of the aria “Che si può fare” (“KAY see pwoh FAH-ray”) and the cantata “Lagrime mie” (“LAH-gree-may MEE-yay”).
ANSWER: Barbara Strozzi [or Barbara Valle]
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