Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1557-1612), having spent part of
his youth studying with the Flemish composer Orlande de
Lassus at the court of the Duke of Bavaria in Munich,
retured quite accustomed to the lavish festivities for
which he would later be commissioned to compose. Both
he and his uncle Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1553-1585) were
native Venetians, both became organists at St. Mark's
Cathedral and would perform their music in the artistic
treasure-house of the Western World, La Serenissima,
the "mos...(+)
Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1557-1612), having spent part of
his youth studying with the Flemish composer Orlande de
Lassus at the court of the Duke of Bavaria in Munich,
retured quite accustomed to the lavish festivities for
which he would later be commissioned to compose. Both
he and his uncle Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1553-1585) were
native Venetians, both became organists at St. Mark's
Cathedral and would perform their music in the artistic
treasure-house of the Western World, La Serenissima,
the "most serene city" of Venice.
"Sonata pian' e forte", written in 1597 is an
instrumental piece using soft and loud dynamics. A more
technical definition of this is a Venetian polychoral
style which arose from architectural peculiarities with
regards to St Marks cathedral.
A Sonata (during the Renaissance) means a piece for
instruments. It was probably written to be played as
part of a Roman Catholic Church service at St Marks
cathedral in Venice. It was written for 8 instruments
divided into 2 groups of 4 and placed in opposing
galleries in the cathedral.
The whole piece is in [transposed] Dorian mode onto G.
This means that this uses all the notes of F Major, but
the tonic note is G. The whole piece is designed for
singers, even though it is played on instruments due to
the conjunct melody moving in small steps.
Although originally written for Renaissance period
instruments and chorus, I created this arrangement for
Wind Ensemble.
PARTITION