There is no clear record of Monteverdi's early musical training,

or evidence that (as is sometimes claimed) he was a member of

the Cathedral choir or studied at Cremona University.
Monteverdi's first published work, a set of motets, Sacrae
cantiunculae (Sacred Songs) for three voices, was issued in
Venice in 1582, when he was only fifteen years old. In this, and
his other initial publications, he describes himself as the pupil
of Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, who was from 1581 (and possibly
from 1576) to 1592 the maestro di cappella at Cremona
Cathedral. The musicologist Tim Carter deduces that Ingegneri Cremona Cathedral, where
"gave him a solid grounding in counterpoint and composition", Monteverdi's teacher Ingegneri was
and that Monteverdi would also have studied playing maestro di capella
instruments of the viol family and singing.[11][12][13][14]

Monteverdi's first publications also give evidence of his connections beyond Cremona, even in his
early years. His second published work, Madrigali spirituali (Spiritual Madrigals, 1583), was
printed at Brescia. His next works (his first published secular compositions) were sets of five-part
madrigals, according to his biographer Paolo Fabbri: "the inevitable proving ground for any
composer of the second half of the sixteenth century ... the secular genre par excellence". The first
book of madrigals (Venice, 1587) was dedicated to Count Marco Verità of Verona; the second book
of madrigals (Venice, 1590) was dedicated to the President of the Senate of Milan, Giacomo
Ricardi, for whom he had played the viola da braccio in 1587.[11][13][15]

Mantua: 1591–1613

Court musician

In the dedication of his second book of madrigals, Monteverdi had

described himself as a player of the vivuola (which could mean either
viola da gamba or viola da braccio).[14][16][n 3] In 1590 or 1591 he
entered the service of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga of Mantua; he
recalled in his dedication to the Duke of his third book of madrigals
(Venice, 1592) that "the most noble exercise of the vivuola opened to
me the fortunate way into your service."[18] In the same dedication he
compares his instrumental playing to "flowers" and his compositions
as "fruit" which as it matures "can more worthily and more perfectly
serve you", indicating his intentions to establish himself as a
composer.[19]

Duke Vincenzo was keen to establish his court as a musical centre,

and sought to recruit leading musicians. When Monteverdi arrived in
Mantua, the maestro di capella at the court was the Flemish musician
Giaches de Wert. Other notable musicians at the court during this Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga
period included the composer and violinist Salomone Rossi, Rossi's in his coronation robes
sister, the singer Madama Europa, and Francesco Rasi. [20] (1587, by Jeannin Bahuet)
Monteverdi married the court singer Claudia de Cattaneis in 1599;
they were to have three children, two sons (Francesco, b. 1601 and
Massimiliano, b. 1604), and a daughter who died soon after birth in 1603.[14] Monteverdi's brother
Giulio Cesare joined the court musicians in 1602.[21]

When Wert died in 1596, his post was given to Benedetto Pallavicino, but Monteverdi was clearly
highly regarded by Vincenzo and accompanied him on his military campaigns in Hungary (1595)
and also on a visit to Flanders in 1599.[14] Here at the town of Spa he is reported by his brother