Composer of the Week: Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli: Uncle and Nephew

Uncle and Nephew

Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Uncle and Nephew

Donald Macleod follows Andrea Gabrieli’s quest for his dream job

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Venetian luminaries Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Today, we follow Andrea’s origin story and the quest for his dream job

Donald Macleod follows the origin story of Venetian luminary Andrea Gabrieli, and the quest for his dream job. 

Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli share a name that dominated Venetian music during the late 16th and early 17th century. Both uncle and nephew were organists and composers, and their music was linked inextricably with the exceptional city in which they lived and worked. From the organ loft of St Mark’s Basilica to the resplendent palazzos of merchants and noblemen, they provided the soundtrack to Venice’s golden age, with its numerous feast days and celebrations. But together, they would also pioneer an ambitious way of writing choral music - playing with texture and architecture– that would eventually echo beyond the Venetian waterways and profoundly affect the music of the future.

Today, we meet uncle Andrea - a humble parish church organist who has his sights set on the best instrument in the city. But with one rejection already under his belt, how can he prove he’s got what it takes? When he finds the solution, it's one he'll use to help someone else waiting in the wings - his young nephew Giovanni.

Andrea Gabrieli: Benedictus dominus Deus sabbaoth
I Fagiolini
Robert Hollingworth, director

Andrea Gabrieli: Fantasia allegra del duodecima toni
Andrea Buccarella, harpsichord

Andrea Gabrieli: Hor chel nel suo ben seno; Vaghi augelletti; Angel del terzo ciel; O suave a mio cor dolce altena 
Weser-Renaissance Bremen
Manfred Cordes, conductor

Andrea Gabrieli: Aria della battaglia 
Cappella de Ministrers
Carles Magraner, conductor

Andrea Gabrieli: Laudate dominum omnes gentes a 5; Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius a 10; Laudate Dominum
Ensemble Officium
Ensemble Gabinetto Armonico
Wilfried Rombach, conductor

Giovanni Gabrieli: O magnum mysterium 
La Cappella Ducale
Roland Wilson, conductor


Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod surveys the careers of Venetian musicians Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli.

Donald Macleod surveys the careers of uncle and nephew Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, who shared a name that dominated Venetian music during the late 16th and early 17th century.

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