ABSTRACT
Monteverdi begins by reflecting that there are, "as indeed the best philosophers declare," three principal "passions or affections of the soul": ira, temperanza, et umilta o supplicatione. By investigating the companion genera and the interpretation by Monteverdi and his contemporaries, this chapter undertakes to deepen our understanding of the concitato style and its affective context. Of "the best philosophers" invoked by Monteverdi as his authorities only Plato and Boethius are named. By melodia Monteverdi surely meant melopoeia, the process of constructing an entire musical composition. Monteverdi's usage distinguishes singular and plural forms of the word as in modern Italian; the author using the Latin forms, genus and genera, which have been taken into English. The 1607 preface is Giulio Cesare Monteverdi's Dichiarazione, a gloss on his brother's 1605 response to Giovanni Maria Artusi. Monteverdi concludes his section about performance practice by saying, "perche le maniere di sonare devono essere di tre sorti, oratoria, Armonicha, et Rethmica."
