Giovanni Gabrieli studied with Lassus in Munich. He returned to Venice in 1584, becoming organist of St Mark’s (San Marco) a year later, and then principal composer a year later following the death of his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli. He combined this with the post of organist of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, one of the best paid musician positions in Venice.
In 1597 he published his Sacrae symphoniae (1597), which was known across Europe and caused composers to go to Venice to study, as well as him introducing them to madrigals – thus they returned home with the polychoral/antiphonal style of San Marco, but also of word-painting and intimate madrigals – this influenced Schütz in Germany who would in turn influence Bach.
Simple polychoral / antiphonal style can be seen in his Sonata pian’ e forte for eight parts arranged in two choirs of four, spaced apart (as can be seen in the galleries either side of the altar in San Marco). A grander style can be seen in the motet In Ecclesiis – both this and the Sonata have been A Level set works in the past.
His Jubilate Deo omnis terra is a setting for eight voices of Psalm 100. You can easily hear the imitation between parts, homophonic and polyphonic sections, and also the echo/antiphonal writing between the parts.
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