Pre-concert talk at 3:00 p.m. with Monteverdi scholar Massimo Ossi. The 1610 Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is, according to many, one of the most perfect pieces of music ever written. Written as an audition piece (ultimately successful!) for the post of maestro di capella at San Marco in Venice, this monumental work is the most ambitious piece of sacred music written before the works of Bach several generations later.