COLLECTIO ARGENTEA

1 CD - 437 073-2 - (c) 1986
1 LP - 2533 406 - (p) 1978

GIOVANNI GABRIELI - Canzoni & Sonate



Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1555-1612)

from "Sacrae symphoniae" (1597)

- Canzon septimi e ocatvi toni (a 12) - No. 13; Coro I a 4, Coro II a 4, Coro III a 4, organo 3' 02"
- Canzon septimi toni (a 8) - No. 3; Coro I a 4, Coro II a 4, organo 3' 36"
- Sonata octavi toni (a 12) - No. 15; Coro I a 6, Coro II a 6, organo 4' 11"
- Canzon septimi toni (a 8) - No. 2; Coro I a 4, Coro II a 4, tiorba 4' 11"
- Sonata pian e forte (a 8) - No. 6; Coro I a 4, organo; Coro II a 4, organo 4' 04"
from "Canzoni et Sonate" (1615)

- Canzon (a 5) - No. 1; a 5, organo 2' 39"
- Sonata (a 15) - No. 19; Coro I a 5, Coro II a 5, organo; Coro III a 5, organo 4' 49"
- Canzon (a 6) - No. 4; a 6, organo 2' 44"
- Sonata (a 4) - No. 21; a 4, organo, tiorba
 3' 54"
- Sonata (a 8) - No. 13; Coro I a 4, organo; Coro II a 4, organo 2' 47"
- Canzon (a 7) - No. 7; a 7, organo 3' 28"
- Canzon (a 8) - No. 8; Coro I a 4, organo; Coro II a 4, organo 4' 41"


 
THE LONDON CORNETT AND SACKBUT ENSEMBLE / Andrew PARROTT, Direction
Bruce Dickey, Theresa Caudle,  Jeremy West, Graham Nicholson, Cornett
Alan Lumsden (alto & tenor), Paul Nieman (tenor), Roger Brenner (alto & tenor), Alan Pash (tenor), Sue Addison (alto), Trevor Herbert (tenor), Pauzl Beer (tenor), Stephen Saunders (bass), Martin Pope (bass), Sackbut
Andre van der Beek, Dulcian
Monica Huggett, Polly Waterfield, Nicola Cleminson, Theresa Caudle, Baroque violin
Mark Caudle, Baroque viola
Colin Tilney, Nicholas McGegan, Positive organ
Nigel North, Theorbo
 





Luogo e data di registrazione
Henry Wood Reherasal Hall, London (Inghilterra) - febbraio 1978

Registrazione: live / studio
studio

Producer / Engineer
Andreas Holschneider / Gerd Ploebsch / Heinz Wildhagen

Prima Edizione LP
Archiv - 2533 406 - (1 lp) - durata 44' 06" - (p) 1978 - Analogico

Edizione "Collectio" CD
Archiv - 437 073-2 - (1 cd) - durata 44' 06" - (c) 1986 - ADD

Note
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GIOVANNI GABRIELI: CANSONAS AND SONATAS
Giovanni Gabrieli’s music for instrumental ensemble represents the first substantial body of music to be written for a large group of players and on an ample emotional scale. Before his work in this sphere, there was some fine keyboard music which used the same forms, not least that by his uncle Andrea Gabrieli and his colleague in St. Mark’s, Claudio Merulo. There had also been some excellent chamber music written by English composers. But Giovanni Gabrieli’s music broke new ground by being written to be heard in public by an audience or congregation and to be played by a band of professional musicians so large and so skilled as to be virtually a chamber orchestra, albeit of an uncommon constitution.

THE ENSEMBLE AT ST MARK'S, VENICE
This was made possible by the development of an ensemble in St. Mark’s, a church which was technically the private chapel of the Doge, and thus the state church of the Venetian Republic. Important ceremonies took place there several times each month. Some of these were annual festivals celebrating events of the Roman Catholic Church (as at Christmas and Easter); others really in honour of Venice itself (as on Ascension Day, which although a church festival was also the day of Venice’s so-called “Wedding to the Sea”); others, simply state occasions, as on the reception of important nobility from abroad. On each of these, Mass or Vespers was sung with elaborate music, St. Mark’s being famous for its grand motets for double choir or cori spezzati. Instruments supported the voices in these splendid pieces, and in 1568 an agreement was drawn up between St. Mark’s and three brothers from Udine, in the Veneto, for them to play trombones on such festive occasions. In 1576 a fourth player, Giovanni Bassano, was added, to play cornetto, and two more players were engaged in the following decade to bring the permanent ensemble up to six, all highly skilled specialists in wind instruments. By the 1580s, this had become only a nucleus, for it was increasingly the custom to hire per diem additional players, bringing the ensemble from anything between eight to twenty players. It is clear from the paybooks of the basilica that one of Gabrieli’s duties, as organist, was to hire these extra players and it may be assumed that he was the most enthusiastic of the composers in the employ of St. Mark’s in the use of its instrumental ensemble. It is not always clear what instruments were used, since the players are named without further indication - and in any case, many of them played a whole variety of instruments. Stringed instruments were sometimes employed, including a violin (which could mean also a viola, in our terminology) and a violone; a bassoonist was another frequently hired. Nevertheless, it is plain that the basic timbre of the ensemble was that of cornetto and trombone. These two instruments were generally considered to blend well. The cornetto, a wood or ivory instrument played with an “acorn” type mouthpiece, was extremely agile, since its method of fingering was akin to that used on the recorder. Its tone could be quite delicate (it was frequently compared with the human voice) but also be trumpet-like when played loudly. The 16th-century trombone had a less strident tone than its more modern counterpart, thus not overweighting the ensemble of generally quiet instruments.

THE ENSEMBLE AT THE SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCO
In addition to his post at St. Mark’s, Gabrieli was also organist of the Venetian religious confraternity, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. This was an association of laiety, founded to do charitable works, such as providing assistance for sick members and dowries for the daughters of deceased or impoverished members. It also took part in processions (originally it had been a brotherhood of flagellants) on state occasions, but increasingly it spent money on the annual celebration of the day of its patron saint. This took place on 16 August, and Gabrieli’s function was to assemble musicians who performed throughout the day. The choir of St. Mark’s was usually employed, together with an instrumental ensemble, not only of those who performed regularly in St. Mark’s, but including many free-lance players. This could reach vast proportions, up to 25 players being involved. We have a description of the celebrations in 1608, by an English traveller, Thomas Coryat, who describes the instrumentalists as follows:
“... Sometimes sixteen played together upon their instruments, ten sackbuts [= trombones], four cornetts, and two viol da gambas of an extraordinary greatness; sometimes ten, six sackbuts and four cornetts; sometimes two, a cornett and a treble viol. Of those treble viols I heard three several there, whereof each was so good, especially one that I observed above the rest, that I never heard the like before ...”
The players of cornetts included Giovanni Bassano, who helped to assemble the group: but it is interesting that the violinists were given especially high fees. A number of Gabrieli’s later works have elaborateviolin parts and it seems likely that many of his Canzoni et sonate (1615) were written for San Rocco and its grand hall, rather than St. Mark’s and its famous galleries. This helps to explain their style, which is somewhat different from that of other composers in the Venetian orbit.

THE FORMS
All the major forms of instrumental ensemble music in the period around 1600 had their origins in vocal genres. There were three well known forms. The most popular was the canzona, sometimes called the “canzona francese” because its origin was the French chanson, dozens of which were adapted for instruments during the 16th century. It nearly always started with a dactylic rhythmic tag and was notable for its cheerful rhythms and tuneful melody. It also tended to be constructed in a number of distinct sections, the final one often being a restatement of the opening one, giving an ABCDA type structure. The second genre was the ricercare, which in the mid-16th century was the instrumental counterpart of the motet, rather more stately than the canzona, and written in a consistently contrapuntal texture. By the end of the century, when motets had been more variable and often homophonic in manner, the ricercare was becoming a little old fashioned and was tending to become a “learned” piece, working out a single theme in a way that later developed into the characteristics of the fugue. So as a more solemn piece than the canzona, there came into existence the sonata, literally a work to be played, as opposed to being sung, with no fixed rules about texture or pattern, but significantly they frequently resemble the “modern” motet. The use of all these works was during Mass or Vespers to act as introductions or epilogues or at an exalted part of the ceremony such as the Elevation of the Host, hence the necessity for a solemn genre in addition to the jollier canzona.
The basic differences in idiom between vocal and instrumental music were clear by the closing years of the 16th century. Instruments have a better command of range: a cornett can start on or maintain a high note in a way difficult or even impossible for a singer; and similarly with the low notes on trombones. And the agility, especially of cornett and violin, allowed much embellishment, a factor exploited by all the Venetian composers for their excellent Virtuosi.

GIOVANNI GABRIELI'S INSTRUMENTAL WORKS
These were published in two main collections. The Sacrae symphoniae of 1597, mainly a collection of motets, also included thirteen canzonas and two sonatas. These were probably written in the previous ten years, since the composer had taken up his post at St. Mark’s in 1586. The second collection, the Canzoni et Sonate, was published posthumously in 1615, having been assembled by Gabrieli’s pupil and confessor, Padre Thaddeo. Much of this music probably dates from his later years, but one or two pieces may well date from an earlier period; as do a few works published in an anthology put together by a Venetian publisher, Raverio, in 1608. There are clear differences in style between the earlier and later works. The pieces included in the Sacrae symphoniae all use the division into two or more groups traditional in St. Mark’s and played in the widely spaced galleries of the basilica. As in motets, the principle feature is that of dialogue, one group announcing an idea which will be taken up by the other, perhaps expanded and then answered by the other, all coming together for grand climaxes. The ornamentation of this period consists mainly of brilliant scale passages for the cornetts. The later works also sometimes use the double choir technique, but the interest is less in dialogue than in a continuous flow of melody, by phrases being repeated by alternating groups. And many pieces in the Canzoni et sonate are not for double choir, but for a large single body, the instruments being deployed in constantly changing groups in a kaleidoscopic way. Here there is often more counterpoint than in the earlier pieces. The organization of these pieces is tight, with variants of rondo or variation forms giving a strong sense of unity. The ornamentation is more varied, more dotted rhythms and short mordent-like figures being passed between the instruments.
This development of style gives Gabrieli’s instrumental music a vast emotional range. The freedom from setting words inspires him to seek new paths. There are tuneful, extrovert canzonas, solemn sonatas; but, more especially amongst the later works, there is no single mood, rather a constant fluctuation, sometimes brilliance giving way to dignity, or gaiety to something more intense. This is the glory of the music, its unexpectedness being still more important than its Venetian grandeur.
Jeremy Noble