Gabrieli, Andrea

1510-1586

Venetian organist and composer of church-music; was born and died at Venice; was the foremost organist of his time and a pupil of the founder of the Venetian school, Adrian Willaert. It is stated that Andrea Gabrieli was the first contrapuntist to write a real fugue, Frescobaldi later elaborating his idea. In 1536 he entered the choir of St. Mark's, where Willaert was chapelmaster, and in 1566 succeeded Claudio Merulo as the second organist of St. Mark's, and was first organist at the time of his death. He was also eminent as a teacher, and most noted of his many pupils were his nephew Giovanni, Leo Hasler, and Jan Peter Sweelinck, who founded the North German School of Organists. He was commissioned by the Venitian Republic in 1574 to write the festival music for the reception of King Henri III., which remains in Gardano's Gemme Musicali, published in 1587 at Venice. He was a prolific composer, his works including organmusic, masses, madrigals, motets, and songs, much of which is still extant. His choral works are considered superior to his instrumental, and the Psalmi Davidici is generally mentioned as his best work, the 65th Psalm being cited as greater by far than any similar work before written.

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