In Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae from 1597, 16 works are hidden among 45 vocal compositions, forming one of the first great monuments of instrumental music. Fourteen canzoni and two sonatas, which at the time surpassed each of their genres and which were seldom equaled in the following decades, mostly by Gabrieli himself. Gabrieli must be credited with many innovations in terms of the development of the canzona and the sonata: he was the first to write more than eight parts and to use polyphony. He was the first to contrast polyphonic and homophonic writings and double and triple meters within the same piece, and was a pioneer in the use of timbre and specified instruments for dramatic musical effect. Egon Kenton, in his Life and Work by Giovanni Gabrieli (American Institute of Musicology, 1967), also sees the seeds of the concerto grosso and solo concerto in Gabrieli's use of tutti and solo writing.
- ISMN: 9790004482445 (M004482445)
