TITLE: Sonata pian e forte (1597)

COMPOSER: Giovanni Gabrieli (1555-1612)

• arranged by Gunther Schuller

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Giovanni Gabrieli was an influential, late Renaissance composer born in Venice, Italy. He studied with his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli, and with Flemish composer, Orlando Lasso. Nephew of Andrea Gabrieli, organist at St. Mark's in Venice from 1566 until his death twenty years later, Giovanni Gabrieli was appointed to a permanent position at the same basilica in 1585, where he also served as organist until his death in 1612. His work as a composer represents the height of musical achievement in Renaissance Venice. 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 special accoustical effects that were possible in the great basilica. He used various combinations of instruments, choirs and soloists that helped establish the principle contrast that permeated 17th and 18th Century music. His Sonata pian e forte, in Sacrae symphoniae, Volume One was among the earliest printed works to specify loudness, softness, and instrumentation.

MOVEMENTS: None

PERFORMANCE TIME: 4'00"

INSTRUMENTATION: 9 Instruments

• 1 English Horn, 1 Bassoon, 2 Trumpets, 2 Trombones, 1 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello

EDITIONS: Available for Purchase

• Margun Music, Inc., 167 Dudley Road, Newton Centre, MA 02159

COMPOSITION SKETCH AND MUSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The Sonata pian e forte, from Giovanni Gabrieli's Sacrae symphoniac of 1597, is out of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, where the Gabrielis, uncle Andrea and nephew Giovanni, carried on the tradition, begun earlier in the century, of polychoral music involving the interplay of distinct choirs of voices and/or instruments. The Sonata pian e forte is an early example of music specifically composed for instruments; it was unusual in its time for exact indications of instrumentation. The original instrumentation required a choir of one cornetto and three sackbuts, and another choir of a viola and three more sackbuts. The dual level of sound was specified to be loud in the tutti passages, and soft as the separate groups played by themselves. This emphasis of loud versus soft is consequently the origin of the work's title. The arrangement of the original work by Gunther Schuller captures the essence of Gabrieli's original instrumentation.

SELECTED RECORDINGS:

RELATED WEBSITES:

Gabrieli Biography - http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/gabrieli.html

Gabrieli Birth and Death Information - http://users.knoware.nl/users/jsmeets/g/gabrielg.htm