Issues of voice range and transposition in Monteverdi's Mantuan madrigals (Claudio Monteverdi)

The five-voice madrigal books of Claudio Monteverdi have long been regarded as masterworks of the genre, and have received much attention from musicologists. In the past, however, scholars have largely considered the books from an abstract, non-performative standpoint, and so have to an extent ignored the important information that can be gained through exploration of the more performative aspects of the compositions. This study aims at examining the voice ranges of Monteverdi's Mantuan madrigals from the standpoint of what they can tell us about the singers for whom Monteverdi was writing and about his changing style of vocal writing in the critical transition from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. In addition, through a more detailed examination of the Sixth Book, I suggest how this type of study might be further used in the future to help decide issues of uncertain chronology.