Giovanni Gabrieli's instrumental music is notable for creating works of refreshing variety and imagination using a limited range of musical clichés, such as repeated notes in a dactylic rhythm at the start of nearly all his canzonas.
Recording & Production
This recording features what the performers believe to be the largest group of cornett and sackbut players assembled from one city since the seventeenth century.
Compositional Technique
The two sonatas in Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae are believed to be the first pieces ever to be titled 'sonata'.
Composer Biography
Giovanni Gabrieli, the composer, was an organist at St. Mark's, Venice, from 1585 until his death in 1612.
Historical Context
The St. Mark's ensemble in Venice during the late 16th century was primarily a wind group featuring cornetts and sackbuts, with violins or violas occasionally added for contrast.
Interpretation
The performers, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, decided to transpose three of the five 'chiavette' canzonas down a fourth, while playing the other two 'as written'.
Compositional Technique
Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae collection from 1597 includes 16 canzonas and sonatas, many of which use the 'cori spezzati' or 'split choirs' technique, dividing instruments into two or more groups.
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