Sonata pian' e forte

= Context =

Sonata pian’e forte was written by Giovanni Gabrieli an Italian composer and organist.

Main notes about this piece

• “Sonata pian’e forte” means an instrumental piece using soft and loud dynamics. A more technical definition of this is a Venetian polychoral style which arose from architectural peculiarities with regards to St Marks. Sonata (at this time) means a piece for instruments.
• Probably written to be played as part of a Roman Catholic Church service at St Marks cathedral in Venice.
• Written for 8 instruments divided into 2 groups of 4 and placed in opposing galleries in the cathedral.
• This whole piece is in transposed Dorian mode onto G. This means that this uses all the notes of F Major, but the tonic note is G.
• The whole piece is designed for singers, even though it is played on instruments due to the conjunct melody moving in small steps.
• An example of 4 part polyphony: 1 – 14 Coro 1.
• An example of 8 part polyphony: 71 – 74.
• An example of imitation: 71 – 74.
• An example of homophony: Coro 1 bar 37 - 38
• An example of Antiphony: 45 – 49
• An example of a perfect cadence is: 13 – 14. (This piece contains over 40!)
• An example of a Phrygian cadence is: 44 beat 3 – 45.
• An example of a Plagal cadence is: 79-80.
• An example of a 43 suspension is: 29 beat 2 – 30 beat 1 (Violin).
• An example of the cycle of 5ths is: 36 – 41.
• An example of a tierce de picardi: 80.
• An example of syncopation: 75 (Cornett)

Score