Monteverdi was a dramatic composer, bringing a depth of meaning from the text he set that turned each of his pieces into a convincing musical and dramatic statement. Monteverdi's career began at an early age. He published his first pieces, a collection of three-voice motets, at the age of fifteen. By 1591, when he went to Mantua as a musician for the Gonzaga court, he had already published books of "spritual madrigals" (1583), canzonettas (1584) and his first two books of madrigals (1587 and 1590).

In Mantua he continued writing madrigals, and in 1607 produced his first work in the new genre of opera, his setting of Orfeo. In 1613, he was appointed maestro di cappella at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. He remained in Venice for the rest of his life, writing music in all genres, including his final opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642).

Monteverdi wrote in a style that he called the seconda prattica, a description he used to separate himself from the more conservative tradition of Palestrina and his contemporaries. For Monteverdi, the starting point was always the words.

Whatever mood the words might suggest, or whatever effect a single word needed to convey, was reflected in the music. This is the basic idea of word painting used in madrigals throughout the century. For Monteverdi, however, it was not an isolated effect, but an absolute guiding force. This ideal permeated his madrigals and found new expression in the dramatic language of opera. All these techniques work together to make Monteverdi one of the true geniuses of Western music.