Gabrieli Antiphonal Music Question

[Tim Olt]

Greetings all,

G. Gabrieli wrote his antiphonal music to utilize the opposing choir lofts at St. Mark's in Venice. At times, the music is in three sections. Somewhere along the line in my education, it was mentioned to me that he may have separated the third choir due to use of "non-union" musicians. At the time, many churches employed vocalists and instrumentalists. The idea mentioned was that if extra players were brought in, the church musicians would refuse to play with in the same area as them since they were "non-union" (I am using "non-union" merely as a deliniation... this was not a union issue). The third choir would have to be sequestered.

Anyway.... I have been trying to either confirm or debunk this of late. I have a graduate student doing research on Gabrieli, and I don't want to lead him astray. I have been combing numerous resources, but cannot find anything aside from the standard "utilizing the two choir lofts". Does anyone happen to know if this has any validity? If so, can you direct me toward any resources? I wish I could remember who told me this, but alas, age has warped my fragile little mind.

Any and all help is much appreciated!

Tim

[imperialbari]

I haven’t heard the “union” story before. But rather it would have been guilds trying to defend their privileges. This system still exists in some of the more odd aspects of union activity, in the German titles of Generalmusikdirektor of towns and theatres, and even in some band activities discussed in another current thread.

K

[Tim Olt]

K,

Thank you! I was racking my brain to come up with "guild", but it wasn't there. That is the term I meant.

Wade,

I will direct him to contact them. I'll admit I was concerned that they might be standoffish, but you have put those fears to rest.

Thanks to both of you!

Tim

[TMurphy]

If at all possible, without compromising your student's research, could you let us know what (if anything) he finds out from the priests at St. Mark's?? I know I for one would be very interested.

[iiipopes]

Yes, indeed. Having played some of the antiphonal Gabrielli in high school, both the 2- and 3- ensemble pieces, I am also interested. We didn't have lofts, but for concerts we spread out all over a, um "live" acoustic gymnasium (I'm being polite) to get an idea of how the reverberation overlap is an essential part of making the antiphonal sections sound their best.

And then, there's that post-cadential drop in one or more of the lower parts from an octave to a fifth to set up the difference tones to really make the last chord come alive in the space....

[imperialbari]

http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/ ... rtitur.pdf

Not Jam in the usual sense. By manipulating the link you may find more free Gabrieli scores with parts.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

As a contributor to the Icking Archives I thought it could be navigated via manipulating the links. It can, but the directories coming up are not user friendly. So here you have the Giovanni Gabrieli page:

http://icking-music-archive.org/ByCompo ... brieli.php

Reading bass clef concert pitch would be no problem for low brass players. Likewise most high brass players interested in this music will be able to read from treble clef concert pitch.

Klaus

[jeopardymaster]

Tim, I know people who might know something about this. Meanwhile I'll throw out an only slightly educated hypothesis:

Not that many lay people of the day and place could read music, or even read Latin, for that matter. However, quite a few who had taken up orders - monks, brothers, friars - could do both. But some of them (many, even) were also subject to sequestration. That might have something to do with it.

[Tim Olt]

Thanks again!

I passed along the sequestering idea... If this pans out I'll owe you adult beverages and duets.... Heck, even if it doesn't pan out.......

TO