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| Composers Biography - Languages - |  |
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Giovanni Gabrieli
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One of the great composers of ceremonial music, Giovanni Gabrieli succeeded his uncle Andrea Gabrieli as organist at St. Mark's in Venice in 1585, where he remained until his death in 1613. His work as a composer represents the height of musical achievement in Renaissance Venice.
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| Gabrieli continued the traditional cori spezzati techniques developed at St. Mark's during the century, contrasting different groups of singers and instrumentalists and making use of the spacial effects possible in the great basilica. - MIDI FILE - Canzona per sonare (2'32'') His eight-part setting of the Jubilate Deo, using double choir and brass, is characteristic of his style of writing. The most widely known of Gabrieli's works is the Sonata pian' e forte, an eight-part composition for two four-part groups of wind instruments included in the Sacrae symphoniae of 1597, with a number of instrumental Canzoni for between six and sixteen parts. - MIDI FILE - Canzona "La Spiritata" (2'08'') These works, and a number of similar compositions, including toccatas and ricercares, provide an interesting repertoire for modern brass-players, although originally they were played by instruments that included sackbuts (the earlier form of trombone), cornetti (curved wooden instruments with a cup-shaped mouth-piece) and other instruments of the period.
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