Hear Debra Wynn Sing With the Washington Chorus

The Washington Chorus will be performing the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 next Sunday.

It is wonderful music. We just had a rehearsal today. Our conductor said if you had a Mount Rushmore of composers, Monteverdi would be on it.

He also said that some people are worried about terrorism and so are staying home and not going out to concerts. "This isn't a time for that," he told us. "It's a time for good music."

Monteverdi is cool music. It's all in Latin, but hey — there's program notes!

This piece is very rarely performed. It's four choirs, seven soloists — all different kinds of styles.

It's very unusual. It's the bridgework between renaissance music and baroque, and it's a masterpiece, because he's trying things that have never been done before.

He's attributed to inventing opera, so this has elements of chant and polyphony. It's the first time in choral music that the orchestra is playing without the singers. Before, the orchestra always accompanied the singers. In 1610, that was just unheard of. §