30 Sep 2012

Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557 – 1612)

From Composer of the Week, 9:15 am on 30 September 2012
Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli Photo: Public Domain

Dr. Indra Hughes sets the scene in 16th century Venice where business and trade was booming, and so were the arts.

There, the heart of lavish public ceremony, held by the ruling Doge at the time, lay in St Mark’s Basilica.

And it was there that Gabrieli’s innovative output as principal organist put him at an epicentre of culture in the West.

Techniques of surround sound, and antiphony were developed here at St Mark's.

And we learn that Gabrieli would pave the way for Heinrich Schütz directly and a JS Bach one hundred years later.