Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1510-1586) was one of the first native Venetians to hold the positions of Second and then First Organist in the basilica of San Marco. These were the highest musical appointments in the city, and their holders was expected to compose much of the music they played. In the event, like his predecessor Merulo and his successor (his nephew Giovanni Gabrieli), Andrea was adept at all musical forms, especially the new and up-to-date (very secular) madrigal, a sort of vocal chamber music. A splendid selection of these, interspersed with instrumental canzoni (in which one can see the influence he had on his more-famous nephew) that offer welcome contrast to the vocal music. Manfred Cordes leads Weser-Renaissance Bremen in pungent period-instrument performances.

1. Cantiam di Dio, Cantiamo
2. Vaghi augelletti
3. Angel dal terzo ciel
4. Canzona a 4
5. I'vo piangendo
6. Vostro fui e sarò
7. Tirsi che fai
8. Grazie che'l mio signor largo destina (prima parte)
9. Canzona a 4
10. Tirsi morir volea
11. Rimanti amor in sempiterno oblio
12. Come avrò pace in terra
13. Caro dolce ben mio perche fuggire
14. Sento, sent’un rumor
15. Mentr'io vi miro, vorrei pur sapere
16. Mentre la greggia errando
17. Quanti sepolti giu nel foco eterno
18. Hor che nel suo bel seno
19. La verginella è simile alla rosa
20. Ah le guancie di rose
21. Ricercare a 4
22. O soave al mio cor dolce catena
23. Piangi pur Mus’ogn’hor
24. O Dea, che tra le selve

Solo: Bremen Weser-Renaissance Ensemble
Conductor: Manfred Cordes
Chamber: Bremen Weser-Renaissance

Running Time: 68:01
Release Date: March 1999
Originally recorded in 1999

Gabrieli was a prolific and versatile composer, and wrote a large amount of music, including sacred and secular vocal music, music for mixed groups of voices and instruments, and purely instrumental music, much of it for the huge, resonant space of St. Mark's. His works include over a hundred motets and madrigals, as well as a smaller number of instrumental works.
His early style is indebted to Cipriano de Rore, and his madrigals are representative of mid-century trends. Even in his earliest music, however, he had a liking for homophonic textures at climaxes, foreshadowing the grand style of his later years. After his meeting with Lassus in 1562, his style changed considerably, and the Netherlander became the strongest influence on him.
Once Gabrieli was working at St. Mark's, he began to turn away from the Franco-Flemish contrapuntal style which had dominated the music of the 16th century, instead exploiting the sonorous grandeur of mixed instrumental and vocal groups playing antiphonally in the great basilica. His music of this time uses repetition of phrases with different combinations of voices at different pitch levels; although instrumentation is not specifically indicated, it can be inferred; he carefully contrasts texture and sonority to shape sections of music in a way which was unique, and which defined the Venetian style for the next generation.

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