Giovanni Gabrieli (1553 - 1612)
An Italian composer of sacred and secular vocal music and some instrumental
keyboard, string, and wind ensemble pieces. Gabrielli's music is considered
the epitome of the High Renaissance Venetian school. He was the perfecter
of the impressive and lively ceremonial style of
cori spezzati ("broken-up choirs or groups"), in which the musicians
are located in widely separated spaces; he also wrote strangely chromatic
motets about hell and damnation, promoted the music of Monteverdi,
and influenced the young Heinrich Schütz.