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Andrea Gabrieli

Andrea Gabrieli , c.1510-1586, Italian organist and composer; possibly a pupil of Adrian Willaert. In 1536 he was a chorister at St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice, where, in 1566, he became organist at the second organ. He composed madrigals, motets, masses, and ricercari and canzones for organ. He was important in the development of multiple-choir technique, and he was the teacher of Hans Leo Hassler and of his nephew Giovanni Gabrieli , c.1555-1612. Giovanni was for a time a singer in the court choir under Lasso in Munich and became (1585) second organist at St. Mark's, succeeding to first organ on the death of his uncle two years later. He brought the multiple-choir technique to its highest development, and he was most important in the development of the concerto style, i.e., differentiation of choral and solo ensembles. His Sonata pian'e forte (pub. in Sacrae symphoniae, 1597), the first piece of printed instrumental music containing dynamic indications, and the indication of specific instrumentation in his posthumously published works represent the beginnings of modern orchestration.

Bibliography: See studies by E. F. Kenton (1967) and D. Arnold (1979).