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: Year from Hell

Year from Hell

Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Year from Hell

Donald Macleod journeys through Giovanni Gabrieli’s annus horribilis

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Venetian luminaries Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Today, Giovanni’s in at the deep end – holding down a new job amidst family tragedy

Donald Macleod takes us through the most trying and tragic year in Giovanni Gabrieli’s life. 

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, it’s all about 1585 – a year where the rug is suddenly pulled out from under Giovanni’s feet. Fresh into a new job with his favourite uncle, things are off to a flying start. But within a few months, his life morphs into a tragedy - and a courtroom drama - all whilst trying to keep up with a mountain of composing duties. 

Giovanni Gabrieli: Surrexit pastor bonus
The Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque soloists
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Giovanni Gabrieli: Sonata pian e forte
Musica Fiata 
Roland Wilson, conductor

Giovanni Gabrieli: Udite, chiari e generosi figli
The King’s Consort

Andrea Gabrieli: Psalmi Davidici, Psalmo 31:Beati quórum remissae; Delictum meum cognitum tibi feci; Tu es refugium meum a tribulatione; In camo et fraeno
Concerto Palatino 
Bruce Dickey, conductor

Giovanni Gabrieli: Audite príncipes 
Gabrieli Consort and Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor

Giovanni Gabrieli: Litaniae Beatae Mariae Virginis
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts
Stephen Cleobury, conductor

Andrea Gabrieli: O salutaris hostia
Corvus Consort
Ferio Saxophone Quartet
Freddie Crowley, director


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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