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Giovanni was born in Venice. While not much is known about his early life, he probably studied with his uncle, the composer Andrea Gabrieli, and he may also have studied with Orlande de Lassus while he was in Munich at the court of Duke Albrecht V; most likely he stayed there until about 1579. By 1584 he had returned to Venice, where he became principal organist at the church of San Marco in 1585Events January 12 The Netherlands adopts the Gregorian calendar Beginning of the Eighth War of Religion in France (also known as the War of the Three Henrys) August 8 John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in quest for the North West Passage. August 17 Captur, after Claudio MeruloClaudio Merulo (Merlotti) ( April 8, 1533 May 5, 1604) was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance, famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music in the Venetian polychoral style. He was born in Correggio and left the post; and following his uncle's death the following year also took the post of principal composer. Also after his uncle's death he took on the task of editing much of his music, which would otherwise be lost; Andrea evidently had little inclination to publish his own music, but Giovanni's opinion of it was sufficiently high that he devoted a lot of his own time to compiling and editing it for publication.
San Marco had a long tradition of musical excellence and Gabrieli's work there made him one of the most noted composers in EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se. The vogue which began with his influential volume Sacrae symphoniae 1597Events January 24 Battle of Turnhout. Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas in the Netherlands The first opera is considered to have been written. Bali discovered by the Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman Births Pieter Saenreda was such that composers from all over Europe, especially from Germany, came to Venice to study. Evidently he also made his new pupils study the madrigalA madrigal is a setting for 4 6 voices of a secular text, often in Italian. The madrigal has its origins in the frottola, and was also influenced by the motet and the French chanson of the Renaissance. It is related mostly by name alone to the Italian tres being written in Italy, so not only did they carry back the grand Venetian polychoral styleThe Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation. It represented a major stylistic shift from the prevailing polyphonic writing of the middle R, but also the more intimate madrigalian style to their home countries; Hans Leo HasslerHans Leo Hassler (baptized August 17, 1562 June 8, 1612) was a German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was born in Nuremberg and died in Frankfurt am Main. Biography As a boy he doubtless studied music with his fath, Heinrich Schütz, Michael Praetorius and others helped transport the transitional early Baroque music north to Germany, an event which was decisive on subsequent music history. The productions of the German Baroque, culminating in the music J.S. Bach, were founded on this strong tradition which had its original roots in Venice.
Gabrieli was also associated with the Confraternity of San Rocco, another Venetian church, at which some of the most renowned singers and instrumentalists in Italy performed; a vivid description of the music there survives in the travel memoirs of the English writer Thomas Coryat.
Gabrieli was ill increasingly after about 1606, at which time church authorities began to appoint deputies to take over duties he could no longer perform, and he died in 1612, of complications from a kidney stone.