8026 Laudate Nomen Domini

Giovani Gabrieli (c1553-1612)

arranged by Roger Harvey for 8 part brass ensemble

(4 trumpets, 4 trombones/3 trombones, tube; alternate parts for horns, lines 3 and 5)

Difficulty: Medium

Price: £22.50

Programme notes:
This motet was published in the huge 1597 collection of instrumental works for church use and liturgical vocal pieces, Sacrae Symphoniae, a collection only rivalled at this time by the later, posthumous 1615 collection of Venetian church music.
Many of the pieces show Gabrieli's mastery of the polychoral style in which he not only contrasts the sounds of 2 or more choirs but uses them to develop thematic material by passing motives between them in an imitative manner. The rhythmic energy derived from the use of syncopating one or more voices across the groups, as is found in the closing bars of this piece, is also remarkable. The words are the first verses of Psalm 135.

Praise the name of the Lord,
Praise him, you servants of the Lord.
You who minister in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God,
Praise the Lord.
For the Lord is good:
sing praise to his name for that is pleasant;
For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured posession.
I know that the Lord is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.

Performance notes:
This arrangement may be played as an instrumental item or used to double all or some of the vocal lines. The 2 choruses can be equal in size or the second choir may be a smaller semi-chorus, a group of soloists or even a single soloist on the top line supported by 3 instruments.
All markings are editorial and are given by way of example. None of the dynamics should be over-exaggerated but the style should, nevertheless, be expressive.