January 3, 2021--Fantasia on the IV tone by Giovanni Gabrieli

Today, I went for a late Renaissance/Early Baroque composition by the Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli. The term "Fantasia" is a little misleading in this work as we tend to think of a "Fantasy" as being more or less improvisational in how it is sounds. This work is more imitative in nature, in that a single melodic subject is heard almost continuously throughout the work. Think of it as multiple people having a conversation on a single subject and each person giving the opportunity to opine on the meaning of the subject. For the most part, this is in four voices. The subject is heard first in the "tenor" part, followed by the "bass", followed by the "alto" part, and ending with the "soprano". For the most part, the pedals are not used in this work until right at the end even though they probably could be played on the manuals. I went with a straightforward Diapason 8' and 4' on the manuals coupled with a Nachthorn 8' and a Koppelflute 4'. The pedals are a Diapason 16', 8', and 4'.