Big Sing

A le guancie di rose by Andrea Gabrieli

This Year’s Big Sing is being lead by Sir Jocelyn le Jongleur.

The rehearsal will be from 4 - 5 in the Sanctuary.

Music and practice mp3s can be found in the Google Drive folder. Everyone (vocalists and instrumentalists) should perpare a Choir 1 part.

Text and Translation on CPDL.

The ranges for Choir 1 are below. Tenors and altos are especially appreciated!

From the director:

Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1533-1585) was a renowned member of the progressive faction of the Venetian school of composers in the late Renaissance. He was an organist, finally appointed as the organist at St.Mark’s in Venice in the year 1566 after several earlier attempts to secure this most desirable position. He was a composer of both sacred and secular works for vocal, instrumental, and mixed ensembles during his career. Working in such a large, sonorous space like St. Mark’s probably had an influence in his writing style—and because of him, on the Venetian style in general—for he wrote many antiphonal works.

He became famous later in life as a teacher, most notably of his nephew, Giovanni Gabrieli, Lodovico Zacconi, and Hans Leo Hassler. He did not publish much of his music during his lifetime; however, much of the music we have from him was published posthumously by his nephew in 1587.

A Le guancie di rose, is an 8-voice madrigal, fairly typical of the period. The text describes the fickleness and tempestuousness of love. I hope to convey this musically through the rise and fall of the dynamic musical phrase structure and the articulation. I thought it would be fun to realize this antiphonal work in a large versus small group, so that the sections are set off texturally. To further highlight this, I’d like to have all the instrumentalists join choir 1. Choir 2 will be sung by just a quartet of voices. If you are a low alto, please consider singing the tenor part of choir 1, so that we may have any men who have a low G in the bass section!

Happy practicing! Can’t wait to make music together on the 14th at St. Cecilia’s. ~Jocelyn le Jongleur