Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) was a musical revolutionary who championed the new style of music that replaced intricate Renaissance counterpoint with the more theatrical music of the early Baroque. Yet he was a master in both these styles, as this selection from his loveliest madrigals and most famous opera and sacred works shows. Whether praising the divine or lamenting the pain of mortal love, Monteverdi remains a composer whose music can melt the hardest heart and set the soul dancing.