As the main trading post between the East and
West, Venice was a rich and prosperous city, guarded by a powerful
fleet. Its citizens enjoyed political stability and a high standard
of living with a corresponding ability to impress foreign dignitaries.
This was reflected in the ceremonial aspects of public life in
which all classes mixed and where the religious and the temporal
co-existed. Processions, governed by protocol dating back to the
fifteenth century, were held on important civil and religious
occasions, usually beginning in the Piazza and proceeding into
the Basilica of St. Mark, the private chapel of the Doges. One
of the most important customs was that at least six silver trumpets
should play at such events, ensuring the necessity of instrumental
music to accompany all great celebrations. St. Mark’s had a tradition
of formal music-making dating back to the 13th century, but the
appointment of the Flemish musician Adrien Willaert as maestro
di capella, significantly raised the profile of the musical establishment.
Andrea Gabrieli studied in Munich with Lassus
(1532-1594) and worked there at the court of Duke Albrecht V.
In 1566 he was appointed organist at St. Mark’s where he quickly
became recognised as a significant composer, particularly of ceremonial
music. Andrea Gabrieli died at the then extremely ripe age of
Gioseffo Guami was a pupil of Adrien Willaert.
Guami was a singer at St Mark’s from 1561 to 1568 and organist
from 1588 to 1591. From 1568 to 1579 he was organist at the Munich
court where he, too, came under the influence of Lassus. Baldassare
Donato and Giovanni Croce both started out as singers in the choir
and both ended up becoming maestro di capella. Donato's motets
are more conservative, in the style of Palestrina. This recording
includes Croce's late motet, 'Hei mihi! Domine' which, though
essentially homophonic, uses antiphonal and massed choirs to great
Giovanni Gabrieli almost certainly had lessons
with his uncle Andrea. He also worked in Munich at the Court of
Duke Albrecht and like his uncle, studied with Orlando di Lasso.
Giovanni probably left Munich in 1579 on the death of Duke Albrecht.
He deputised as organist at St. Mark’s in 1584 and in 1584 was
appointed second organist and composer following the resignation
of the previous incumbent, Claudio Merulo. In the same year he
became organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, a part-time
appointment, retaining both positions until his death in 1612.
Giovanni Gabrieli’s time spent as a colleague
of his uncle was short, as his uncle died a year after his appointment.
The need for a successor to continue the grand style of composition
must have led the authorities to offer Giovanni the position.
He immediately began to edit and publish his uncle’s concerti,
often written for divided choirs (cori spezzati) of voices and
instruments, which greatly influenced his compositional style.
But Giovanni’s genius was to fully realise the potential of this
spatial technique and to carry it even further than his uncle.
He was granted permission to hire freelance singers and players
in order to enlarge the virtuoso ensemble which had been permanently
established in 1567. Giovanni Gabrieli developed his multi-choral
technique to its limits.
During this period, the head of the instrumental
ensemble at St. Mark's from 1601-1617 was Giovanni Bassano. He
was notable as a teacher and performer but also produced a number
of poly-choral motets.
Giovanni Gabrieli was followed at St. Mark’s
by Claudio Monteverdi, who ushered in a new era of music making.
Monteverdi's 'Missa da Capella - In illo tempore' is a fascinating
work, but is hardly typical of this composer's output, though
the 7-voiced Gloria is in his later, concertato style. Alessandro
Grandi was appointed vice-maestro under Monteverdi, though Grandi
might actually have been a pupil of Andrea Gabrieli. Grandi and
Monteverdi are reputed to have been in open rivalry and Monteverdi
is supposed to have prevented Grandi from presenting large-scale
works of his own. Grandi seems to have made a virtue of necessity
and produced a ravishing string of solo motets and concerti spirituali.
Francesco Cavalli sang in the choir as a boy
treble going on to become a tenor and organist. He was probably
Monteverdi's pupil and went on to establish himself as an opera
composer, only becoming maestro di capella in 1668. Unfortunately,
not much of his sacred music has survived.
Antonio Lotti became a chorister in 1687 going
on to become organist and finally maestro di capella. His well
known 'Crucifixus', for 8 voices, was written during a period
in Dresden working for Emperor August. With Baldassare Galuppi,
who was a pupil of Lotti's, we come very firmly into the 18th
century. Despite a highly successful career in opera he became
maestro di capella in 1762.
This rich tapestry of composers has been well
represented on this 2-disc set. It is enterprising of Gloriae
Dei Cantores to provide us with a survey of all the major composers
associated with St. Mark's from Willaert to Monteverdi. Not surprisingly,
Giovanni Gabrieli gets the lion's share of the disc.
The choir are recorded a little close for my
taste. You hear individual voices rather than a blended choral
sound. Though the choir's sound would be fine for later pieces,
they are not ideal in music of this period. The voices sing with
slightly too much vibrato and the sense of line is not ideal.
It sounds too much a 19th century sound and lacks the transparency
necessary for this music. This sense of thickness increases when
the instrumental ensemble comes into play. Very modern sounding,
they do not at all attempt to emulate the sound world of 17th
century Venice. Undoubtedly, the choir and instrumental ensemble
make a thrilling sound in the set-pieces, like Gabrieli's 'In
ecclesiis', but I am not sure that it is a sound that Gabrieli
would have recognised. Modern brass instruments are very different
from cornets and sackbuts, and balancing the modern instruments
with a choir means that compromises must be made. No longer are
the instruments acting as equals of the voices. For 'In Ecclesiis'
the brass players are recorded in the distance, far less prominent
than the choir and soloists, an unsatisfactory solution to the
problem of balance with solo voices. But, on their own, the brass
players give lively performances of two brass pieces.
Many good choirs have music from this period
in their repertoire. The pieces are enjoyable to sing and form
brilliant backdrops for later pieces. But that does not mean that
the music is ideal for every choir to record. Gloriae Dei Cantores
have had some success recording later music and I do not feel
that their sound is ideal for these pieces. The sound world of
Gabrieli is so very different from our own, with its small vocal
ensembles, single voices to a part and instrumental players acting
as equals to the voices. And then there is the issue of keys -
the music of this period was written for a flexible group of singers
with boy trebles on the top line. The music does not always lie
satisfactorily for the average mixed voice choir. In a sense,
the performances on the recording must be regarded as transcriptions
in the same light as arranging a baroque piece for contemporary
symphony orchestra. Viewed as such, these performances are creditable,
but certainly not ideal.
This disc does give us the opportunity to hear
together works by a number of different composers all associated
with St. Mark's. The performances are not ideal but discs of this
repertoire are not frequent. Personally, I would prefer to buy
the Venetian Coronation disc by Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli
Consort. Though they are not as comprehensive in their range of
composers as Gloriae Dei Cantores, they are far more successful
at capturing the atmosphere of music making at St. Mark's.