Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557–1612) was an Italian composer and organist who brought the Venetian School to its peak at the turn to the Baroque. He probably studied in Venice with his uncle Andrea Gabrieli and in Munich with Orlando de Lassus.

In 1585 he succeeded Claudio Merulo as principal organist of St Mark's and served for life as organist of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. His Sacrae symphoniae of 1597 spread the Venetian polychoral style across Europe, drawing pupils such as Heinrich Schütz. He died in Venice in 1612.