The Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli occupied a crucial
position in the pedagogical transmission of
late-Renaissance and early-Baroque musical style.
Giovanni first learned composition at the hands of his
uncle Andrea Gabrieli, organist for San Marco Cathedral
and standardbearer for Venice's already-rich musical
traditions. Giovanni supplemented this experience with
a four-year period of service at the Bavarian court
chapel of Munich, learning from one of the worldwide
paragons of the late-Renaissance...(+)
The Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli occupied a crucial
position in the pedagogical transmission of
late-Renaissance and early-Baroque musical style.
Giovanni first learned composition at the hands of his
uncle Andrea Gabrieli, organist for San Marco Cathedral
and standardbearer for Venice's already-rich musical
traditions. Giovanni supplemented this experience with
a four-year period of service at the Bavarian court
chapel of Munich, learning from one of the worldwide
paragons of the late-Renaissance style, Orlande de
Lassus. In turn, after Giovanni Gabrieli took over the
position of San Marco organist from his uncle in 1585,
he passed on his stylistic synthesis to a series of his
own students. In Venice, both his successor Alessandro
Grandi and Claudio Monteverdi were influenced by
Gabrieli; over a dozen northern musicians, as well,
made the arduous journey to Italy to study with him,
among them Heinrich Schütz. A piece of music such as
Gabrieli's eight-voiced polychoral motet Jubilate Deo
omnis terra (from the first volume of his Sacrae
Symphoniae of 1597) admirably displays the synthesis of
styles he achieved and passed on.
The most obvious musical traits of Gabrieli's Jubilate
Deo (Psalm 99:1-4) -- its blend of flawless imitative
counterpoint, careful text declamation, and splendid
antiphonal effects -- clearly reflect his mastery of
both Lassus' teaching and his uncle's. The first verse
opens with two classic and well-balanced "points of
imitation" in a single choir of higher voices, then
builds to a cadence in two syncopated phrases of
homophony, much as Lassus might have done. At the
important structural moment of the Psalm verse's second
half, however, a second choir with contrasting lower
textures makes its delayed yet grand entrance. Though
by no means exclusive to Venice, this type of choral
antiphony had long been a common feature of the music.
For the second and third Psalm verses, Gabrieli
continues his alternation between three contrasting
textures (upper choir, lower choir, and full chordal
sonorities), while maintaining a characteristically
lucid declamation of the text and sensitivity to its
structure. After a brief, dance-like triple-meter
section, the final verse ("His truth endures for all
generations") appears in a twice-extended coda with
extraordinarily close imitation among all eight
contrapuntal voices. The imitative motive ripples
through the entire choir, blurring the prior antiphonal
distinctions in one majestic tapestry of praise. In the
Venetian liturgy, Jubilate Deo served a number of high
festal Lauds, especially those jubilant services on
Christmas morning.
Although originally composed for Chorus (SSAATTBB), I
created this Interpretation of the Jubilate Deo (Be
joyful in the Lord) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, English
Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION