Four Canzoni in four parts by Geovanni Gabrieli (C186, C187, C188 and C189) appeared in Canzoni per sonare con ogni sorte di stromenti (Canzonas to be played on all sorts of instruments), a collection of 36 short works by various composers, published in 1608.

While often performed by horns of various types, the instrumentation was unspecified and most any collection of instruments with appropriate ranges will work well. You will find recordings of these works using violins, french horns, viols, recorders, etc. They are a great source for informing your interpretation.

Each piece (except, curiously, the first!) begins with the standard canzon motif of long-short-short (the so-called dactyl pattern). The parts sometimes engage in a call-and-response with each other, and sometimes play together. They are fairly equal, insuring that all players get to express as well as experience the joyful, celebratory nature of these works.

The source for these arrangements was volume 10 of the Opera Omnia (complete works) of Giovanni Gabrieli, edited by Richard Charteris.