Andrea Gabrieli

Andrea Gabrieli is being considered as one of the most seminal Venetian composers of the Renaissance age. Yet, details about his life are scarce. In previous studies his year of birth was estimated to be around 1510 and he was thought to be a student of Adrian Willaert, who was the kapellmeister of St Mark's Basilica at the time. In the 1980s, however, registers were discovered showing not only his date of death (August 30, 1585) but also showed he was "about 52 years old", making his year of birth 1533.

One thing that is certain is that between 1562 and 1565 he stayed in Germany, in Munich, to work with Orlando Di Lasso. In 1566 he became the main organist of St Mark's Basilica in Venice.