During the seventeenth century, the composition techniques shifted from the polyphony of the Renaissance era to monodic melodies over a continuo bass typical of the Baroque esthetics. The main instigator of that revolution was the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. He sang, played the viol (viola de gamba), but mostly wrote madrigals as well as operas in his later years. His 1609 masterpiece L’Orfeo is a perfect example of that hybrid transitional approach.