Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The King’s Consort conducted by Robert King.
I - 0:00
Gabrieli's "Lieto godea sedendo" was published in Volume II of "Concerti di Andrea et di Giovanni Gabrieli" in Venice on 1587, a volume mostly dedicated to the works of his uncle Andrea Gabrieli, but also includes Giovanni's first motets. These early works show much influence of his uncle's style in the use of dialogue and echo effects. In its original form it is scored for eight voices divided in two groups of four, set in this recording for two falsettists and a rich string accompaniment.
The madrigal became specially popular, as proves the fact that is was republished in 1588 by Friedrich Lindner, 1591 by Vittorio Baldini, and 1596 by Pierre Phalèse. Its music was reused as contrafacta in multiple compositions; "Auxilium promisit Deus", "Ein Kindlein fein", "Fröhlich zu sein", "Heilig ist Gott" and "Quam pulchra es amica mea". It was also the basis of the 1607 "Magnificat supra Lieto godea" by German composer Jan Le Febure, and was arranged both as a lute duet and also by Gabrieli’s pupil Heinrich Schütz as part of his Psalmen Davids (1619). In the midst of a traditionally damp Venetian spring its mildly erotic, lovesick tone must have brought on longings for the arrival of good weather.
Just as many European composers beat a trail to Venice to study with the renowned musicians there, the Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli’s earliest studies were with his uncle Andrea, at St Mark’s, before he travelled north to Munich to learn from the esteemed and influential Orlando de Lassus. Returning to Venice, he was appointed to St Mark’s as organist and subsequently, following his uncle’s death, as principal composer. Gabrieli's career rose further when he took the additional post of organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, another post he retained for his entire life. San Rocco was the most prestigious and wealthy of all the Venetian confraternities, and second only to San Marco itself in the splendour of its musical establishment.
The popular historical imagination has long nourished a fascination with the cori spezzati (split choir) traditions of Venice's San Marco Cathedral. Well-known complexities of this church's architecture provide numerous locations for the placement of musical ensembles: multiple choir lofts around the altar, elevated galleries, and even oversized, raised pulpits. Though more sober historical analysis has tempered earlier concepts of a nearly Berliozian disposition of performing forces in San Marco, several generations of Venetian musicians cultivated music that exploits the contrasts between antiphonal groups. The trend culminates in the splendid polychoral motets of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli.
The text paints a pastoral and amorous scene: the poet sits happily in April’s gentle breeze, surrounded by nature’s sighs of love, until Cupid strikes him with his "mortal dart", bringing sudden emotional turmoil. Gabrieli mirrors this shift in mood through sharply contrasting musical textures. The choirs often sing in alternation (antiphonally), imitating each other’s motifs, which creates a lively call-and-response effect. This interplay not only enhances clarity of text but also exploits the Venetian polychoral tradition’s grandeur.
Midway, Gabrieli introduces a quicker triple-time section, injecting rhythmic vitality and dance-like energy before returning to the slower, more stately antiphonal exchanges. The madrigal’s structure thus reflects the emotional arc of the poetry: from serene contentment to the agitation of love’s wound, and finally to a return of the opening material, suggesting a cyclical inevitability. In sum, "Lieto godea sedendo" is both a showcase of Gabrieli’s mastery of spatial choral writing and a finely crafted marriage of text and music, emblematic of the Venetian madrigal’s expressive and architectural splendour.
[Activate subtitles to see the lyrics in Latin/English].
Picture: Young Woman ("La Bella") (c. 1518-20) by the Italian painter Palma Vecchio.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2chnmus3, tinyurl.com/2564kjuj, tinyurl.com/2833x4qr and Copilot GPT-5
To check the score: tinyurl.com/226e9tlm
The King’s Consort conducted by Robert King.
I - 0:00
Gabrieli's "Lieto godea sedendo" was published in Volume II of "Concerti di Andrea et di Giovanni Gabrieli" in Venice on 1587, a volume mostly dedicated to the works of his uncle Andrea Gabrieli, but also includes Giovanni's first motets. These early works show much influence of his uncle's style in the use of dialogue and echo effects. In its original form it is scored for eight voices divided in two groups of four, set in this recording for two falsettists and a rich string accompaniment.
The madrigal became specially popular, as proves the fact that is was republished in 1588 by Friedrich Lindner, 1591 by Vittorio Baldini, and 1596 by Pierre Phalèse. Its music was reused as contrafacta in multiple compositions; "Auxilium promisit Deus", "Ein Kindlein fein", "Fröhlich zu sein", "Heilig ist Gott" and "Quam pulchra es amica mea". It was also the basis of the 1607 "Magnificat supra Lieto godea" by German composer Jan Le Febure, and was arranged both as a lute duet and also by Gabrieli’s pupil Heinrich Schütz as part of his Psalmen Davids (1619). In the midst of a traditionally damp Venetian spring its mildly erotic, lovesick tone must have brought on longings for the arrival of good weather.
Just as many European composers beat a trail to Venice to study with the renowned musicians there, the Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli’s earliest studies were with his uncle Andrea, at St Mark’s, before he travelled north to Munich to learn from the esteemed and influential Orlando de Lassus. Returning to Venice, he was appointed to St Mark’s as organist and subsequently, following his uncle’s death, as principal composer. Gabrieli's career rose further when he took the additional post of organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, another post he retained for his entire life. San Rocco was the most prestigious and wealthy of all the Venetian confraternities, and second only to San Marco itself in the splendour of its musical establishment.
The popular historical imagination has long nourished a fascination with the cori spezzati (split choir) traditions of Venice's San Marco Cathedral. Well-known complexities of this church's architecture provide numerous locations for the placement of musical ensembles: multiple choir lofts around the altar, elevated galleries, and even oversized, raised pulpits. Though more sober historical analysis has tempered earlier concepts of a nearly Berliozian disposition of performing forces in San Marco, several generations of Venetian musicians cultivated music that exploits the contrasts between antiphonal groups. The trend culminates in the splendid polychoral motets of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli.
The text paints a pastoral and amorous scene: the poet sits happily in April’s gentle breeze, surrounded by nature’s sighs of love, until Cupid strikes him with his "mortal dart", bringing sudden emotional turmoil. Gabrieli mirrors this shift in mood through sharply contrasting musical textures. The choirs often sing in alternation (antiphonally), imitating each other’s motifs, which creates a lively call-and-response effect. This interplay not only enhances clarity of text but also exploits the Venetian polychoral tradition’s grandeur.
Midway, Gabrieli introduces a quicker triple-time section, injecting rhythmic vitality and dance-like energy before returning to the slower, more stately antiphonal exchanges. The madrigal’s structure thus reflects the emotional arc of the poetry: from serene contentment to the agitation of love’s wound, and finally to a return of the opening material, suggesting a cyclical inevitability. In sum, "Lieto godea sedendo" is both a showcase of Gabrieli’s mastery of spatial choral writing and a finely crafted marriage of text and music, emblematic of the Venetian madrigal’s expressive and architectural splendour.
[Activate subtitles to see the lyrics in Latin/English].
Picture: Young Woman ("La Bella") (c. 1518-20) by the Italian painter Palma Vecchio.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2chnmus3, tinyurl.com/2564kjuj, tinyurl.com/2833x4qr and Copilot GPT-5
To check the score: tinyurl.com/226e9tlm
