[1] "Ich dachte, diese Kunst wäre ausgestorben; ich sehe aber, dass sie in Ihnen noch lebt."

[2] See organo pleno, p. 70.

[3] The French are accustomed to group registers of similar quality, but varying in pitch, under a single name; as bourdons (stopped wood pipes), montres (diapasons), anches (reeds), qualifying them by the pitch; e.g., bourdons of 16' and 8' would be equivalent to our bourdon and stopped diapason, or gedackt.—Tr.

[4] Take the most beautiful type of the Plain-chant, for instance: the Te Deum. Simply vocalize it, sing it without words; rhythm, beauty, grandeur, all disappear. Translate it, and sing the same music with either French or German text, it becomes absurd. If the Roman Church had not prescribed Latin as the language of its liturgy, we should have no Plain-chant to-day.

[5] In the larger churches in Paris (and in that city the greatest attention is given to the perpetuation and cultivation of Plain-chant) are usually found two organs; the larger one located in a gallery, or tribune, at the west end of the church; the smaller one, with the choir (invariably of men and boys), being placed behind the altar, between it and the ambulatory. This smaller instrument, often augmented by one or more double-basses, serves only to accompany the choir, while the larger organ, called the Grand-orgue, is treated only as a solo instrument, either antiphonally with the choir and small organ, as in the Kyrie, or in solo selections, often improvisations of great merit, as at the Offertory.—Tr.

[6] Born about 1545 at Ferrara, organist and choirmaster in his native city. The "Transilvano" of Girolamo Diruta contains of his composition a Toccata in the fourth mode, and two Ricercare; one in the first, the other in the second mode.

[7] His father, Alexandre Milleville, was born in Paris about 1509, and died September 7, 1589, in Ferrara, where he was choirmaster. His most distinguished pupil was Ercole Pasquini, the predecessor of Frescobaldi at St. Peter's in Rome.

[8] He died in 1521, in the service of the Emperor of Austria. Luther said of him: "This man is truly a master of notes; they must subject themselves to his will, while other composers are compelled to obey them." And again, "His works express perfect contentment, like the song of finches."

[9] Peter Phillipps and Peter Cornet were the best-known organists in the Netherlands. One may judge of their works by the excerpts in G.A. Ritter's Geschichte des Orgelspiels (Leipzig, 1884), Nos. 28, 30, 31, and 32 (2d part).

[10] Luzzasco Luzzaschi, whose compositions were for that time of great value, was charged by Guidiccioni with inability to play trills and to bring out in relief the details of the counterpoint, which were blurred under a hard, heavy touch.

[11] We will not enumerate here all of Frescobaldi's works; we must be content to mention or analyze only those which from the point of view of our present study are most significant.

[12] The following is the complete title: Fiori musicali di diverse compositione, Toccate, Kyrie, Canzoni, Cappricci, e Ricercare in partitura a 4 utili per sonatori. Autore Girolamo Frescobaldi, organista di San Pietro di Roma. Opera duodecima. Con Privilegio. In Venetia. Apresso Alessandro Vicenti, 1635. The volume bears the arms of Cardinal Ant. Barberino, to whom the work is inscribed (the dedication is dated August 20, 1635). The music is written in score, on four staves, each part with its proper clef; the rests are carefully written out.

[13] This precious copy, of 104 pages (like the original), is dated 1714, and preserved in the library of the Kgl. Institut für Kirchenmusik, at Berlin.

[14] With Frescobaldi we find no final cadence other than a perfect major; at his time the idea of a major or minor tonality was still to be conceived, and even for a long time after this distinction was finally made the custom prevailed of ending a piece written in a minor key by a major chord. Thus, in a collection of 371 chorales by J.S. Bach, of which 113 are in the minor mode, 108 of the latter end with a major chord.

[15] Il secondo libro di Toccate, Canzoni, Versi d'hinni, Magnificat, Gagliarde, Correnti e altre Partite d'Intavolatura di cembalo e organo di Girolamo Frescobaldi. Con Privilegio. In Roma, con licenza de' Superiori. 1627. Da Nicolo Borbone.

[16] Ricercata, of which the fifth part must be sung, without being played.

[17] The circle, possessing neither beginning nor end, conveys the impression of the infinite, of perfection. This perfection is attributed to the number three; according to Franco of Cologne, the chief number, because of the Trinity, "vera et summa perfectio." (Musica et cantus mensurabilis, Chap. IV.)

[18] Il primo libro di capricci, canzoni francese e ricercari fatti sopra diversi soggetti et arie in partitura. Di Girolamo Frescobaldi, organista in San Pietro di Roma. Novamente ristampati. Con privilegio. In Venezia, appresso Alessandro Vicenti, 1642. An earlier edition dates from 1626, and is only the collection in a single volume of the works published in 1615 and 1624.

[19] The following is a facsimile of this tablature, taken from the beginning of the sixth Toccata in the second book (pp. 16-20), per l'organo sopra i pedali e senza:

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[20] According to Michael Praetorius (Syntagma musicum, 1619) the Toccata was a prelude, a trial of the keyboard, as it were; a fantasia wholly devoid of form, where the organist improvised, alternating long-sustained chords with rapid passages. It was something entirely spontaneous in nature, in which every imperfection was pardoned, provided the performance was characterized by sufficient dash. The Toccatas of Frescobaldi, by virtue of their steadiness and of the balance of their parts, rise far above such a definition, which is justly applicable to the Toccatas of Claudio Merulo and of Gabrielli.

[21] This theme was again used by G.B. Fasolo (1645) and Fr. A. Scherer. Fasolo's version reminds us of the fugue in A major of J.S. Bach; it runs:

music
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[22] The Pastorale belongs to the "Toccate d'intavolatura di Cembalo et organo. Partite di diverse Arie e Correnti, Balletti, Ciacone, Passacagli di Girolamo Frescobaldi. Libro Primo. Stampate l'anno 1637 per Nicolo Borbone in Roma." It is a reprint of works already published in different volumes.

[23] Compare Sœur Monique, by F. Couperin.

[24] Frère Jacques, a popular French tune.

[25] This taste was prevalent at the time; Frescobaldi's rival, S. Scheidt, organist at Halle, gives us numerous examples of it: in the first part of the Tabulatura nova (Hamburg, 1624), two Belgian melodies with variations, and the French song, Es ce Mars; in the second part, the English tune de Fortuna. The Tabulatura nova has been reprinted (Denkmäler der Tonkunst).

[26] Previous editions are dated 1614 and 1616. Each of these directions, addressed "al lettore," is preceded by its number, according to order; there are no less than nine of them.

[27] Geschichte der Musik, vol. iv, p. 438.

[28] The records of the city of Halle, from the year 1620 on, do not contain the name Froberger. It is thus useless to entertain the date 1635, given by some historians.

[29] At first he received twenty-five florins a month. Later his salary was raised to sixty florins, in addition to gratuities and money for clothing, beginning at twenty florins per year.

Two organists were usually in service.

[30] He was the father of the astronomer, Christian Huygens. Himself a composer, he was much interested in music. Curious facts concerning musicians of his time will be found in the work of W. Jonckenbloet and Land: Correspondance et œuvres musicales de Constantin Huygens, Leyden, 1882.

[31] "des pieces que un nommé Mons. Froberger ma donnez, et qui est un homme tres rare sur les Espinettes."

[32] This manuscript, carefully and finely written and embellished with pen-designs, is divided into four volumes, splendidly bound; they are preserved in the library of the Hofburg (the palace of the Emperor of Austria) in Vienna. A large number of the pieces are autographs; Froberger distinguishes these by the words Manu propria.

[33] Ferdinand III. was a musician; still extant are an aria of his composition with thirty-six variations, published by Ebner (Gerber), and some litanies in Kircher's Musurgia.

[34] It is worthy of notice that, save for the few months which preceded his journey to Rome, Froberger appears and departs, alternately, every four years; with the exception of the leave he obtained from 1645 to 1653—undoubtedly one of four years which he had renewed in 1649. The fulfilment of the duties of the position was assumed by rotation among several organists; like the custom established at the court of Louis XIV., where the four titular organists succeeded each other every three months, or every "quarter."

[35] "Allemande de M. Froberger, fait à Paris." It is No. 12 of the manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Vol. 7, 1862. This volume is ornamented with the arms of Bassyn d'Angervilliers and of N. Mothefelon. The title upon the binding reads: Préludes de M. Couperin. Besides these preludes and the Froberger pieces are contained works of Frescobaldi, Labarre, and Richard de Saint-Jacques.

[36] From this vacation seems also to date a journey to Dresden, where he was accorded a magnificent reception by the Elector of Saxony, to whom the Emperor had sent him.

[37] In two autograph letters, of June 25 and October 23, 1667, addressed to Christian Huygens, the Princesse de Montbéliard gives details of Froberger's death, expressing her grief at the decease of the "Chevalier," a true "Patron of noble music." These letters, which were discovered in 1874 by Dr. E. Schebeck, have been published by him, somewhat revised, and by Jonckenbloet and Land in their original form.

[38] These suites are found in the Vienna manuscript and in one of the Spitta collection. (See Franz Beier: Ueber J.J. Froberger's Leben und Bedeutung für die Klaviersuite.)

[39] Unam exhibemus quam D. Io. Jac. Frobergerus organoedus Caesarius celeberrimus olim organoedi Hieron. Frescobaldi discipulus supra UT RE MI FA SOL LA exhibuit. (Musurgia universalis, Vol. i, p. 466.)

[40] He excelled in movements in triplets.

[41] Anleitung zur musikalischen Gelahrtheit.

[42] J.S. Bach is already foreshadowed in Froberger's compositions. Thus, in this double of an Allemande:

music
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[43] Kerl was sent to Rome by Emperor Ferdinand III. about 1649; he received some lessons from Carissimi.

[44] See Ed. Hanslick: Aus meinem Leben. (Deutsche Rundschau, July, 1894, p. 54.)

[45] "Our Father, who art in heaven." This chorale was one of eight published for Pachelbel by Johann Christoph Weigel at Nuremberg about 1693.

[46] Georg Muffat, born about 1635, was a pupil of Lully, and studied also in Rome and Vienna. For some time he was organist in Strassburg, and about 1667 entered the service of the Bishop of Salzburg. About 1687 he became organist and master of the pages at the court in Passau. He died there February 23, 1714. He published in 1690, at Augsburg, the "Apparatus musico-organisticus" (re-edited by S. de Lange, Leipzig, 1888), which contains twelve Toccatas, one in each of the Gregorian modes, and some pieces of lesser importance.

These Toccatas are a development of the older form of the same name, where brilliant passages, harmonic progressions, or fugal imitations, succeeded each other. From each of these elements Muffat made a whole, developed separately; a similar method suggested in certain Canzoni of Frescobaldi was extended in some of the Capricci of Froberger. Nothing but the too sparing use of the pedal prevents these works from being ranked among the most important.