20015 Sonata Octavi Toni a 12
Sacrae Symphoniae 1597

Giovanni Gabrieli ( 1557-1612 )
edited by Roger Harvey for 12-piece brass ensemble: 4 tpts; 4 hns; 4 trbs (3 trbs/tuba)

Difficulty: Medium

Price: £25.00

Programme notes:
The Cathedral of St Mark's in Venice was the venue for the most splendid sacred and secular events in the sixteenth century with the increasing complexity of the music matching the opulent setting. The particular architecture enabled and encouraged the use of antiphonal music for multiple groups of voices and instruments. The finest examples of this polychoral style by Giovanni Gabrieli were written in the late 16th and early 17th century and many of them were published in 2 great collections of 'Sacrae Symphoniae' in 1597 and, posthumously, in 1615.
This instrumental Sonata, the early Baroque term for music specifically for instruments rather than voices, is a 12 part piece from the 1597 set.

Performance notes:
This Sonata works well in a slow, solemn style but also in a slightly quicker tempo where it can be performed in a more celebratory manner.
Numerous editorial expression marks and dynamics have been added to aid performance when rehearsal time is short but if time allows these can be altered or ignored to suit the desires of the performers.