Here of a Sunday Morning: Claudio Monteverdi

http://www.hoasm.org/VB/VBMonteverdi.html

Chris Whent, host of a New York early music radio show, maintains this informative site on early music genres and composers. This particular page features information on Monteverdi with illustrations and links.

Claudio Monteverdi: Metropolitan Museum of Art
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cmnt/hd_cmnt.htm
This excellent site from the Metropolitan Museum of Art provides a brief biography of Monteverdi with illustrations of authentic instruments, maps, and a timeline of related topics. We highly recommend the "related timeline" for opera.

Questions

1			How old was Monteverdi when he published his first book of secular madrigals?
2			What was the seconda prattica, and how was it revolutionary?
3			What was the inspiration for Monteverdi’s opera L'Orfeo?
4			Describe the instrumentation of L'Orfeo.
5			When did the first public opera house open in Venice?