Hammond F. Girolamo Frescobaldi

Harvard University Press, 1983. — 425 p.: musical examples.He was a prodigious virtuoso—it is said that his first organ recital at St. Peter’s in Rome attracted an audience of 30,000—and he was unquestionably the most important Italian composer of keyboard music before Bach. Baroque in every sense of the word—flamboyant, elaborate, richly ornamented, sometimes bizarre—his music was tremendously influential on composers of his own day and on musicians of future generations.Frederick Hammond’s vivid description of Girolamo Frescobaldi’s career adds up to a picture of musical life in seventeenth-century Italy: the prevalence of wealthy patrons; the kinds of church music required for services in this period; the private musical entertainments common in palaces and villas; the instruments available to Frescobaldi in the churches and residences where he played and supervised performances. Hammond discusses antecedents and sources of Frescobaldi’s style, the forms he used, his thematic devices and harmonic and contrapuntal techniques. A final chapter tackles performance questions. Here is the first full-length book on Girolamo Frescobaldi in English, and the most complete in any language.Illustrations
Frescobaldi's Life
Ferrara
Rome and Flanders, 1607-1608
Rome, 1608-1614
Mantua, 1614-1615
Rome, 1615-1628
Florence, 1628-1634
Rome, 1634-1643
Frescobaldi's Instruments
THE MUSIC
The Art of Counterpoint: The Fantasie of 1608 and the Recercari et Canzoni of 1615
Songlike Affetti and Diversity of Passi: The Toccate e Partite Libro Primo of 1614-1616
Various Subjects and Airs: The Capricci of 1624
A New Manner: The Secondo Libro di Toccate of 1627
A Variety of Inventions: The Canzoni of 1628 and 1634
Last Works: The Fiori Musicali of 1635 and the Aggiunta to Toccate I of 1637
The Performance of Frescobaldi's Keyboard Music
Other Keyboard Works Attributed to Frescobaldi
Vocal Works
Catalogue of Works
Notes