Canzon Noni Toni a 8 No. 173 by Giovanni Gabrieli Brass Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1953608

Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist who exploited the use of dynamics and the use of massive forces arrayed in multiple, spatially separated groups. When combined with his use of alternating dynamics and the acoustics of the church at San Marco, Venice where he worked, the maximum effect of sonority simply delighted his audiences.

This canzona was composed after Gabrieli returned to Venice to take the position of principal organist at St. Mark’s Basilica. The specific architectural design of St. Mark’s, which featured two facing choir lofts, inspired Gabrieli to write works that actively bounced sound across the cathedral. Written for two independent 4-part brass choirs, it utilizes the Venetian cori spezzati technique to create a dramatic, stereophonic call-and-response effect between opposing choir lofts.

Noni toni refers to the ninth church mode (Hypoaeolian), which provides a majestic, resonant harmonic profile. Like many of Gabrieli's canzonas, it shifts seamlessly between duple and triple meters, juxtaposing driving, rhythmic homophonic fanfares with intricate, overlapping imitative counterpoint.

This setting, for 8 brass instruments in 2 choirs utilizes the cori spezzati (split choirs) technique popularized by the Venetian polychoral style. Choir 1 and Choir 2 trade musical themes back and forth before joining together in grand, tutti climaxes, mirroring the acoustics of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.