General Biography on Frescobaldi

We will hear two selections for solo harpsichord by Girolamo Frescobaldi, a contemporary of Monteverdi and initially schooled by several masters of the Italian madrigal. Born into a prestigious family in Ferrara, Frescobaldi first studied under the organist and madrigalist Luzzasco Luzzaschi and was strongly influenced by Carlo Gesualdo, who was in Ferrara at the time. His most important work was done in Rome, though he also served as court organist to the powerful Medici clan in Florence. During his lifetime Frescobaldi received a great deal of attention from musicians and well-to-do patrons both in Italy and abroad for his keyboard ability; a well-known contemporary once stated that “all his knowledge is at the ends of his fingertips” (a quip that could be taken in either a positive or a negative sense!).
Frescobaldi’s twelve volumes of keyboard works, published 1608-14, defined their era, summarizing the main genres in a searching, highly chromatic and experimental idiom. A later publication, Fiori musicali (1635), became a practical textbook for succeeding generations throughout Europe. J. S. Bach’s own well-used edition has been preserved. Frescobaldi’s two books of Toccatas and Partitas, published between 1615 and 1637, celebrate a flamboyant improvisatory style alternating between virtuosic scale runs (passaggi) and introspective parts (affetti). Frescobaldi sought to achieve in his keyboard works an expressive equivalent to the modern madrigal as perfected by Luzzaschi, Monteverdi, and Gesualdo.

(c) Jason Stell