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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2008
Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli are regarded as the great luminaries of the Venetian school of the second half of the sixteenth century. Although both uncle and nephew were employed at St Mark's as organists, rather than in the nominally more prestigious capacity of maestro di cappella, they contributed powerfully to the development of Venetian music, both sacred and secular, vocal and instrumental. In addition, their profound influence on later Venetian and German composers has long been acknowledged.
1 von Winterfeld, C., Johannes Gabrieli und sein Zeitalter (Berlin, 1834).Google Scholar
2 Caffi, F., Storia della musica sacra nella già Cappella Ducale di San Marco in Venezia dal 1318 al 1797, 2 vols. (Venice, 1854–1855; repr. 1931).Google Scholar
3 Benvenuti, G., Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli e la musica strumentale a San Marco, 2 vols., Istituzioni e Monumenti dell' Arte Musicale Italiana 1–2 (Milan, 1932), 1.Google Scholar
4 Ibid., p. lxxiv.
5 Caffi, , Storia della musica sacra, i, p. 180 Google Scholar: ‘Se moglie avess' egli, se figli, se la famiglia di lui progredisse ancora … ben feci ricerca, ma nulla m'avvenne scoprire.’
6 Kenton, E., Life and Works of Giovanni Gabrieli, Musicological Studies and Documents 16 (Rome, 1967).Google Scholar
7 Ibid., pp. 48–52. The information supplied by the three known records of Giovanni's death (his tombstone. the register of Santo Stefano and the necrology of the Venetian health authority) is inconsistent.
8 Caffi, , Storia della musica sacra, i, p. 166.Google Scholar Some scholars have favoured a birth-date as late as 1520s; see, for example, Reese, G., Music in the Renaissance (rev. edn, New York, 1954), p. 413;Google Scholar Einstein, A., The Italian Madrigal, 3 vols. (Princeton, 1949), ii, p. 521.Google Scholar On the other hand. Arnold, Denis, in the entry for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Sadie, S., 20 vols. (London, 1980), vii, pp. 54–60 Google Scholar, quotes the traditional date of c. 1510 without comment.
9 Caffi, , Storia della musica sacra, i, p. 166.Google Scholar
10 Einstein, , The Italian Madrigal, ii, pp. 521–2.Google Scholar
11 Most recently by Arnold in his New Grove entry.
12 The document is reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’. p. XLIV.Google Scholar
13 The other, senior organist was Claudio Merulo, whose tenure lasted until 1584. His resignation paved the way for Giovanni's appointment.
14 The Cassier, Scontro and Quaderni. records of financial transactions and petty-cash payments and receipts, are missing for the periods 1580–mid-1586, 1579–1611 and 1567–1614 respectively.
15 For the pertinent document, see Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXXI.Google Scholar
16 Concerti di Andrea, et di Gio: Gabrieli (Venice, 1587).Google Scholar The dedication is cited in Caffi, , Storia della musica sacra, I, pp. 173–5Google Scholar: Kenton, , Life and Works of Giovanni Gabrieli, p. 52 Google Scholar; and Einstein, , The Italian Madrigal, II, pp. 520–1.Google Scholar
17 Arnold, , ‘Music at the Scuola di San Rocco’, Music and Letters, 40 (1959), pp. 229–41;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Arnold, , ‘Towards a Biography of Giovanni Ganrieli’, Musica Disciplina. 15 (1961), pp. 199–207;Google Scholar Arnold, , Giovanni Ganrieli and the Music of the Venetian High Renaissance (London, 1979).Google Scholar
18 ‘1587, die Mercurij 9 mensis septembris in domo habitationis infrascriptorum fratrum de contrata Sancti Vitalis: Cum sit che il quondam messer Piero di Fais detto Gabrieli, padre de [fol. 479v] gl'infrascritti fratelli et sorella, habbia, come a me nodaro fu esposto, lasciato per il suo Testamento de man de nodaro et sotto dì et millesimo come in quello, ducati cento e cinquanta per il maritar de madonna Anzelica sua figliola; et hauendo messer Zuane Gabrieli Musico, suo fratello, al maritar di quella datone quatrocento, come si dice apparer per il suo Instrumento dotale, similmente de man de nodaro et sotto dì et millesimo come in quello: et ciò habbi fatto esso messer Zuane per migliorar la condittione de detta sua sorella. Et non essendo conueniente ch'egli, in cambio di tal buona opera, ne debbi in tempo alcuno patire né esser Molestato da detti sui fratelli et sorella sotto pretesto di non uoler sottogiacere loro alla summa di sopra in dote oltra alli prefati ducati cento e cinquanta, tanto più che fecie con consenso di quelli. Et uolendo loro render cauto esso messer Zuane, et mostrar anco segno de grattitudine uerso alla detta loro sorella, però per tenor del presente publico Instrumento Madonna Marina, ser Domenego et ser Matthio, fratelli [fol. 480r] et sorella di detto messer Zuane et della sopradetta Madonna Marina [recte Anzelica] et figlioli del prefato quondam Piero, facendo per si [ = sé], heredi et successori suoi, contentano che per detto messer Zuane loro fratello sijno stati esborsati li sopradetti dannari in dote alla detta loro sorella oltre ad essi ducati cento cinquanta lassatoli dal detto quondam loro padre, et in ogni caso promettono di sottogiacere cadauno per la sua portione et in cadaun tempo dimandarne conto di essa dote de più, ut supra, esborsata. Et laudano et ra[ti] ficano quanto per esso, ut supra, e stato fatto et opperato, come è detto, non altrimenti come se fussero interuenuti all'esborsation di essa dote, come è detto. Et accioche di questa nota ne appari publica scrittura, hanno detti fratelli et sorella pregato me nodaro ne facci questo Instrumento. Testes – dominus Antonius, filius domini Gasparis de Couonis, Musicus, habitator in domo praefata, et ser Iacobus, filius quondam ser Nicolai Vidus de Cargna, Tessarius tellae, de contrate Sancti Angeli, ambo fidem facien[te]s de cognitione dictorum fratrum et sororis' (ASV, Archivio Notarile, Filza 5638, Z. e. F. Figolin, Atti 1587, fols. 479r– 480r).
19 Bridges, T., ‘Giovanni Gabrieli's Father’, Music Library Notes, 37 (1981), p. 712.Google Scholar
20 ASV, Archivio Notarile, Filza 5663, Z. e F. Figolin, Atti 1602, fol. 533v. The document to which the signature is attached is a ‘concessio’ for burial-space in Santa Maria Formosa, drawn up by ‘Illustre Signor Carlo Elemano … fiamengo’; it also mentions ‘Guielmo Elemano fratello di esso Carlo’, who must be the ‘Carlo Helman’, mentioned by Giovanni Gabrieli in a letter of 1604 (reproduced in Kenton, , Life and Works of Giovanni Gabrieli, p. 76).Google Scholar Accordingly, it seems reasonable to infer that a personal relationship existed between Giovanni and the Helman brothers. The two Helmans are also the dedicatees of Croce's, Giovanni. Primo libro de madrigali a 6 (Venice, 1590)Google Scholar; Croce was attached to the church of Santa Maria Formosa at the time.
21 There is a will for a Marina Gabrieli, dated 10 December 1623 (ASV, Archivio Notarile, Busta 1179, Erizzo, F., Testamenti, no. 321)Google Scholar. She shared her surname with her deceased husband ‘Pierantonio di Chabrieli’, and thus it is questionable whether she was Giovanni's sister. Interestingly, however, she had a son named Giovanni, a nephew Andrea and a daughter Paulina (Paula was Giovanni Gabrieli's mother's name; see below).
22 ‘I’ ho molta famiglia'; the letter is reproduced in Kenton, , Life and Works of Giovanni Gabrieli, pp. 75–6.Google Scholar
23 No information concerning this musician has so far come to light. The name is presumably a variant of ‘di Cavanis’ or ‘Cavagnis’. It is conceivable that he was Marina Gabrieli's husband.
24 Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXXVII.Google Scholar
25 ASV, Dieci Savi sopra le Decime, Registro 419 (Catastico, Estimo 1661, Sestiere di San Marco).
26 ‘[in left-hand margin:] Cessio. 1586, Die Iouis 9° Ianuarij, in domo habitationis infrascripti Domini Ioannis, de contrata Sancti Vitalis: Cum de proximo. Deo concedente, Honesta Iuuenis Domina Angela, filia quondam Petri de Fais nuncupati de Gabrielibus dum uiueret de contrata Sancti Hieremiae, et Dominae Paulae, Iugalium, ingressura sit monasterium Sancti Ioannis Laterani Venetiarum, in quo desiderat suscipere habitum monachalem: Ideo dum sui Iuris existit, cerciorata prius a me notario de uitalium Instrumentorum, sponte, per se, heredes et successores suos, cessit et renuntiauit omnibus et quibuscumque Iuribus et actionibus sibi quouis modo spectantibus et competentibus spectareque et competere poterant, potuissent et possent in et super bonis tarn paternis quam maternis, fraternalibus et sororialibus et alterius cuiusuis generis, et presertim pio legato sibi dimisso per quondam Andream de Gabrielibus, eius auunculum, ex forma eius Testamenti releuati per breuiarium [fol. 11v] per officium clarissimorum Dominorum curiae examinatorum sub die et millesimo ut in eo, cui relatio habeatur. Transferens praefata Domina Angela Iura ipsa In Dominum Ioannem de Gabrielibus, eius fratrem filiumque suprascriptorum Iugalium. Ponensque ipsum in omnem locum, ius et statum et esserci[ti]um, illumque procuratorem Irreuocabilem constituens ut in rem propriam, ita quod uirtute presentis cessionis possit et ualeat de ipsis Iuribus disponere prout ipsi Domino Ioanni eiusque heredibus et successoribus placuerit. Et hanc cessionem fecit et facit ipsa Domina Angela quia, e contra, praefatus Dominus Ioannes eius frater promisit se daturum dicto Monasterio, pro monachare praefatae eius sororis, dotem condecentem. De et pro qua dote per ipsum, ut supra, exbursanda dicto Monasterio, ipsa Domina Angela ex nunc prout ex tune uocauit se tacitam, quietam et satisfactam de premissis ac de et pio legato praefato. Promittens cessionem et quietationem huiusmodi firmam et ratam habere, tenere, attendere et Inuiolabiliter obseruare, sub obligatione omnium bonorum suorum, praesentium et futurorum et ubique existentium. De et super quibus omnibus et singulis rogauit praesens confici Instrumentum. Testes - Dominus Horatius de Rubeis quondam Octauiani, et Dominus Georgius, filius ser Francisci Alfini, Varotarius, de contrata Sancti Hieremiae, fidem facien[te]s de cognitione dictae Dominae Angelae' (ASV, Archivio Notarile, Filza 5637, Z. e. F. Figolin, Atti 1586, fols. 11r–11v).
27 This is consistent with information supplied by the nineteenth-century inscriptionist Cicogna to the effect that Giovanni's mother died in 1588 or 1589 (quoted in Kenton, , Life and Works of Giovanni Gabrieli, pp. 48f).Google Scholar
28 His name appears in this form in two madrigal publications of 1575 (ibid., p. 43).
29 I am deeply grateful to Prof. Don Aldo Fiorin of SS. Geremia e Lucia for providing access to the parish archives.
30 Such an amount, equal to one-and-a-half times Giovanni's annual salary in 1585, suggests that Piero's family was at least modestly affluent. In 1580 a dowry of 50 ducats supplied by charity was evidently considered ample to ensure the marriageability of an impoverished woman of gentle birth (see Pullan, B., Rich and Poor in Renaissance Venice, Cambridge, Mass., 1971, p. 353).Google Scholar
31 She was probably a younger sister of Giovanni. Extensive statistics for fifteenth-century Florence (cited in Kirchner, J. and Molho, A., ‘The Dowry Fund and the Marriage Market in Early Quattrocento Florence ’, Journal of Modern History, 50, 1978, pp. 403–88Google Scholar) reveal that the average age of women at monachation was seventeen years and two months, with around three quarters of the sample being under twenty. If we assume that roughly the same conditions prevailed in late-sixteenth-century Venice, and that Angela was around twenty in 1585, then she would have been born c. 1565. This date also becomes a terminus post quern for Piero di Fais's death.
32 It was the custom for a woman's dowry to be transferred to the convent in the event of her becoming a nun; see Pullan, , Rich and Poor, pp. 82, 378.Google Scholar
33 Unlike the two atti presented above, the document was evidently not drawn up by F. Figolin. The Gabrielis do not seem to have used either Figolin, except in connection with the two documents presented; the reasons for this are not clear.
34 I am indebted to Sheila Lewis for clarification of some of the legal aspects of the documents.
35 The Figolin atti followed the modern calendar rather than the traditional Venetian reckoning which began the new year in March; thus the year 1586 is the correct one.
36 Rezasco, G., ‘Breviario’, Dizionario del linguaggio italiano storico e amministrativo (Florence, 1881), pp. 119–20.Google Scholar
37 See da Mosto, A., L'Archivio di Stato di Venezia: Indice generate, descrittivo ed analitico, 2 vols. (Rome, 1937–1940), I, pp. 92–3Google Scholar, for a brief description of this judicial body.
38 Interestingly, Caffi, claimed (Storia della musica sacra, I, p. 180 Google Scholar) that Andrea had had a will drawn up by a notary, only to withdraw it subsequently. The source of Caffi's information remains unclear, yet his claim is consistent with the evidence presented here. It is tempting to speculate that Angela's decision to become a nun prompted Andrea to withdraw the will shortly before his death, with the intention of changing Angela's regular inheritance to the ‘pious bequest’ referred to in the notarial document of 1586.
39 The document is reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXX Google Scholar. It will be discussed further below; see note 82.
40 The catalogue of the ‘Mostra Vivaldi’, an exhibition of music-related documents that was sponsored by the Archivio di Stato di Venezia in 1978, contains a curious error in this respect. Its description (p. 42) of the entry of 1 January 1585 in the Atti della Procuratia, pertaining to Giovanni's election, implies that according to the document Andrea abstained from the election process because of his kinship with the candidate. In fact, Andrea is not mentioned; the document is reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXXI.Google Scholar
41 ‘II ser Andrea Cabrieli d'/anni · 52 · incerca da/febre et catarro già/mesi · 5 · – San Vidal’ (ASV, Provveditori alla Sanità, Necrologio 817, 1585).
42 Caffi, , Storia della musica sacra, I, p. 166.Google Scholar
43 Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXXVII.Google Scholar
44 See Maylender, M., Storia delle accademie d'ltalia, 5 vols. (Bologna, 1926–1930), v, pp. 436–43Google Scholar, for a description of the academy and its membership lists.
45 Caffi, (Storia della musica sacra, I, p. 169 Google Scholar) invented the legend that both Zarlino and Andrea Gabrieli were members of the academy because the prestige of each was such that neither could be excluded without being grievously slighted.
46 ‘Humanism in the Music of the Renaissance’, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 9 (1982), pp. 87–220 Google Scholar; see esp. pp. 131–7.
47 Kirkendale's discovery, and his ensuing objections to Lowinsky's thesis, are reported by Lowinsky, , ‘Humanism’, p. 220 n. 161.Google Scholar The Andrea Gabrieli of the 1571 will may be the same as the ‘Andrea Gabriel’ of the Accademia della Fama, and/or the Andrea Gabrieli who was a magistrate of the Giudici dell'Esaminador in the 1560s and whose name appears frequently in the court records. Also, I have located a rental contract drawn up in 1586 by yet another person of the same name, a ‘clarissimo Andrea Gabriel’, son of Jacomo and brother of Triffon [sic], who owned a house in the parish of San Zulian (ASV, Archivio Notarile, Filza 5812, M.-A. Figolin, Atti 1586, fol. 24v). Since the three interlocutors of Daniello's treatise are named Trifone, Jacopo (a variant of jacomo) and Andrea, it is probable that the Andrea Gabriel of the 1586 contract is a member of the same noble family as that described by Daniello, albeit of a later generation.
48 One possible teacher, Baldassare da Imola, is in fact ruled out on chronological grounds; but, since virtually nothing is known of him, this does not appreciably alter the perception of Andrea's biography.
49 Andrea did compose a threnody on the death of Willaert which was published in the Primo libro delle greghesche of Manoli Blessi (Antonio Molino) (Venice, 1564), but this is hardly proof that he was Willaert's pupil.Google Scholar
50 d'Alessi, G., afterword to A. Gabrieli: Musiche di chiesa da cinque a sedici voci, 1587, I Classici Musicali Italiani 5 (Milan, 1941), p. 91.Google Scholar
51 Arnold, D., ‘Andrea Gabrieli und die Entwicklung der “cori-spezzati”-Technik’, Die Musikforschung, 12 (1959), pp. 258–74.Google Scholar
52 See Einstein, , The Italian Madrigal, II, p. 521.Google Scholar
53 Rosselli was evidently in either Rome or Lyons at the time (see Garden, G., ‘François Roussel: a Northern Musician in Sixteenth-century Rome’, Musica Disciplina, 31, 1977, pp. 107–33).Google Scholar
54 Lockwood, L., The Counter-Reformation and the Masses of Vincenzo Ruffo (Venice, 1970), p. 36.Google Scholar
55 Some of the interpretations of the relationships between the two men seem to have gone beyond the documents; see Leuchtmann, Horst, Orlando di Lasso: Sein Leben (Wiesbaden, 1976), pp. 122–3, 135 Google Scholar, for a review of the evidence.
56 While the basic question raised by Lowinsky, (‘Humanism’, p. 131)Google Scholar concerning the identity of Andrea Gabrieli's humanistic mentor or mentors remains unanswered, it can be suggested that Lasso and the Bavarian court circle now become the most likely candidates.
57 ‘Piaque al sommo voler di Dio l'anno passato di trasferirlo di terra in Paradiso, in età matura sì, & assai colma d'anni’.
58 A careful reading of the surviving Cassier Chiesa records indicates that Andrea was no longer on the payroll of St Mark's as of mid-1586. The entries listing the lump-sum payments made every two months to the salaried staff for that year (the first such entry is dated 19 June 1586) consistently mention only one ‘organista’ – who can only be Giovanni. Beginning in 1587 (i.e., after Bell'haver's appointment) the entries specify ‘organisti’ (ASV, Procuratia de Supra, Cassier Chiesa, Registro 4, 1586–92, passim).
59 Bell' haver had been in Venice since at least 1568, except for a brief period of employment in Padua in 1585; documents establish his presence again in Venice by February 1586. Paolo Giusto (also known as Paolo di Castello) was the organist at San Pietro di Castello in Venice at around this time (personal communication from Rebecca Edwards). Little is known of Antonio Romanin, but his surname is certainly a Venetian one; he may be the ‘Antonio organista’ engaged for services on Ascension Day eve at St Mark's in 1587 (ASV, Procuratia de Supra. Cassier Chiesa, Registro 4, 1586–92, under the date 3 July 1587).
60 The pertinent document is reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXXI.Google Scholar
61 ‘la diligentia con la quale … esercita il suo carico’; the document is reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, pp. LXXI–LXXII.Google Scholar
62 His death-notice appears under that date in the Venetian necrological registers (ASV, Provveditori alia Sanità, Necrologio 819, 1587).
63 The corresponding documents are reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, pp. LXXII–LXXIII Google Scholar. Arnold, (Giovanni Gabrieli, pp. 29–31 Google Scholar) claims that the delay in appointing Bell'haver's replacement stemmed from the Procurators' desire to attract talented organists from outside Venice. This is certainly a possibility, although it does not seem to apply to the election of 30 December 1586. In any case, the alleged overriding preoccupation of the Procurators with the quality of the musical establishment has thus been used to account for both their promptness in filling vacancies and their tardiness in doing so.
64 In 1571 Andrea lived in a house in San Maurizio, furnished rent-free by the Procuratia ( Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXX Google Scholar). It is tempting to speculate that the move to San Vidal was prompted by Giovanni's return from the north c. 1580.
65 ‘1585 adì primo febraro: Referì Domenego Comendador hauer fatto le Infrascritti proclami nelli lochi soliti a San Marco et Rialto: De mandato delli clarissimi signori Procuratori de Supra della chiesa de San Marco si fa intender a tutti quelli pretendi mettere alla proua di organista della ditta giesia debbano fra termine de Zorni, 15, prossimi hauersi dato in nota alla detta procuratia perchè passato detto termine Sue Signorie clarissime intendra[n]o uenir a ditta ellettione’ (ASV, Procuratia de Supra, Atti Chiesa, Registro 137, 1584–9, fol. 60r). I am very grateful to Rebecca Edwards for calling my attention to this document and for a discussion of its significance. A summary of it appears under the relevant date in an index to the Atti della Procuratia known as the ‘Rubricario secondo delle terminazioni’ (covering the years 1556–89): ‘Proclama per far elletion di organista della Chiesa di San Marco’ ( Lenaerts, R., ‘La chapelle de Saint-Marc à Venise sous Adrian Willaert (1527–1562)’, Bulletin de l'Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 19, 1938, p. 223).Google Scholar
66 Bell'haver was dismissed from his post in Padua in December 1585, evidently for neglecting his duties (see Casimiri, R., ‘Musica e musicisti nella cattedrale di Padova nei sec. XIV, XV, XVI’, Note d'Archivio, 18, 1941, pp. 122–3Google Scholar). If, in fact, he applied for the job at St Mark's in February 1586, perhaps his questionable employment record in Padua caused the Procurators to defer a decision.
67 ‘[havendo] rispetto alli bisogni suoi’; the document is reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, pp. LXXI–LXXII.Google Scholar
68 Arnold, , ‘Towards a Biography of Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. 200.Google Scholar
69 Ibid.
70 Benvenuti, (‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXXX)Google Scholar suggested that the advance of 30 December 1586 was intended to help defray the costs of publishing the Concerti of 1587. In view of the marketability of the print, however, it is questionable whether Giovanni would have had to put up large sums of his own money.
71 In response to a petition of 1571, in which Merulo complained that Andrea was receiving rent-free housing, the Procurators granted both organists a salary increase of 20 ducats a year, with the stipulation that Andrea's was to be considered a housing allowance and was to be donated to charity as long as he occupied the house in San Maurizio. (From Andrea's point of view, the arrangement offered no advantage at all at the time.) When he moved to San Vidal, however, he was presumably free to apply the housing allowance to his rent there. See Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’, p. LXX Google Scholar, for the pertinent document.
72 ‘Petrus Tasso famulus etc. Retulit fecisse ut infra videlicet: De mandato del clarissimo signor Auogador Bragolin si fa comandamento a uoi eccellente messer Aluise Balbi Auuocato, come piezo del quondam messer Andrea Gabrieli organista, come de detta piezaria appar nelli atti dell'officio sotto dì · 5 · ottobre 1579, che per tutto doman, che sarà adì primo febraro prossimo debbiate presentar nell'officio dell'Auogaria tutte le robbe descritte nell' Inuentario de rason de ser Bortholo de Iacomo portador da uin ch'erano appresso del quondam messer Andrea organista, ouer di detta Anzola sua nezza iuxta la Termination del clarissimo Auogador Bollani · 5 · ottobre 1579, et questo ad Instantia del detto ser Bortholo' (ASV. Avogaria di Comun, Notatorio, Registro 2070/21, May 1585-April 1586). The same entry is repeated, with minor variations, under the date 27 February.
73 ‘Die 15 Martij 1586: Constituito nell'officio D Zuane Gabrieli facendo per nome dell'eccellente messer Aluise Balbi et in obedentia del contrascritto comandamento ha consegnato le contrascritte robbe contenute nel inuentario contrascritto al detto ser Bortholo in presentia de messer Domenego Masser. El qual ser Bortholo accettò dette robbe per resto e saldo del detto inuentario.’
‘1586 adì. 7415. marzo: Io Bortholo di Alberti ho receuuto le robbe delle quali si dice nel comandamento et di esser resto satisfatto in tutto et per tutto come nell'inuentario et constituto etc. Io Zuan Hierolamo Stella ho scritto per nome del detto Bortolo per non saper lui scriuere.’
74 Andrea's indebtedness to a wine-merchant is itself suggestive of a non-noble, indeed humble, background; wine-sellers in Venice also functioned as pawnbrokers, catering primarily to a lower-class clientele (for an amusing account of their practices, see Molmenti, P., Storia di Venezia nella vita privata. 3 vols., 7th edn, Bergamo, 1927–1999, III. pp. 285–6).Google Scholar
75 Alvise Balbi worked for the Procuratia. In 1587 he was engaged as an intermediary for the purpose of acquiring the third organ (ASV. Procuratia de Supra. Cassier Chiesa, Registro 4, 1586–92. under the date 23 July 1587).
76 ‘Anno ab Incarnatione Domini nostri Iesu Christi millesimo sexcentesimo quarto… Die uero Domenico secundo mensis Ianuarij… Essendo uicin'alla morte Io Francesco di Fais del quondam ser Domenego della uilla di Pian in Cargna, Canal Santo Piero, et uolendo far questi quattro parole…lasserò mia madre madonna Beluta [?] fin ch'ela uiue … di quanto mi ritrouo et ritrouerò hauere … lascio alla scuola di Santa Maria Helisabetta di detta uilla in chiesa di San Steffano ducati cinque per una uolta tanto, et al Santo Sacramento di detta chiesa lasco ducati quattro per una uolta tanto’ (ASV, Archivio Notarile, Busta 7, D. Adami, Testamenti, no. 112).
77 ‘Carnia’, Enciclopedia italiana, 36 vols. (Milan and Rome, 1929–1939), IX, pp. 100–2.Google Scholar The territory of Carnia was annexed to Venice at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
78 I am very grateful to Maurizio Grattoni of Udine for this and other information concerning the history of Carnia.
79 It may also be significant that Fais is the name of a locality in the vicinity of Belluno, in the region of Venezia Giulia to the west of Friuh.
80 Instances are known in which a musician took the name of a patron; Andrea's alleged pupil Francesco Sponga was ‘detto Usper’ for this reason (see Selfridge-Field, E., Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi, Oxford, 1975, p. 103).Google Scholar
81 In Vogel's, Emil Bibliothek der gedruckten weltlichen Vocalmusik Italiens aus denjahren 1500 bis 1700, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1892), II, p. 173 Google Scholar, the name is given as it appears in the 1554 print: ‘Andreas Gabriel’. In the recent revised and updated edition ( Vogel, E., Einstein, A., Lesure, F. and Sartori, C., Bibliografta delta musica italiana vocals profana pubblkata dal 1500 al 1700, 3 vols., Pomezia, 1977, n, p. 1538)Google Scholar the name is listed as ‘Andrea Gabrieli’.
82 In this connection. I can now offer a fresh interpretation of a rather puzzling reference to Andrea's personal life in a document of the Procuratia of 28 June 1578 (reproduced in Benvenuti, , ‘Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli’. p. LXX)Google Scholar: ‘intense dalli Organisti messer Claudio [Merulo] de Corezo, e messer Andrea de Canaregio li particolari loro bisogni per il numero della fameglia dell'uno, c per la infirmità della consorte dell'altro’. Benvenuti understood this to mean that Merulo had a large family and Andrea an infirm wife, although he admitted that the interpretation was problematic. According to Rebecca Edwards (dissertation in progress on Claudio Merulo, Princeton University), Merulo was married at least twice, and one of his wives drew up a will in 1583. Thus the ailing wife could plausibly be Merulo's. The ‘family’ would then be Andrea's, and it evidentlyconsisted of Piero's widow Paula, Giovanni, his four brothers and sisters and the young children (if any) of these.