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Since October, Falmouth Chorale artistic director Krishan Oberoi has presented a series of online lectures introducing choral works that break with tradition. Dr. Oberoi will continue the series on Sunday, April 11, at 5 PM, with a virtual talk on Monteverdi s Vespers.Â
The vocal pyrotechnics of Baroque opera collide with the reverent strains of Gregorian chant in a masterpiece that musicologist Denis Morrier described as a rash wager in which Monteverdi undertakes a spectacular fusion. â¨Claudio Monterverdi s Vespers of 1610 remains one of the most beloved, misunderstood, and mysterious pieces in the choral repertoire. Monteverdi was a 43-year-old widower at the time of its publication, and he seems to have intended the Vespers as a kind of musical portfolio, displaying his chops as he sought to improve his employment. Dedicated to Pope Paul V, the Vespers of 1610 demonstrates Monteverdi s intuitive grasp of sacred music, even as it draws on his previ