Tombeau fa�t � Paris sur la mort de monsieur Blancheroche

Johann Jakob Froberger followed youthful study in his hometown of Stuttgart with a successful trip to Vienna, where he became a court organist by age 20. Immediately thereafter, in 1637, he made a pilgrimage to Rome specifically to study with Girolamo Frescobaldi. Froberger was the most famous German keyboardist of the day, a reputation that he secured through extensive performing tours around northern and central Europe. These travels also furthered Froberger’s quest to achieve an international style of composition, one that merged the best aspects of Italy (melody and expressive use of dissonant harmony), France (dance forms, refinement, and ornamentation), and his native Germany (counterpoint). The Tombeau fait à Paris sur la mort de Monsieur Blancheroche was written by approximately 1652. Like many of his character pieces, Froberger’s Tombeau seeks to relate a programmatic message through musical content: in this case, he represents the poor monsieur’s fatal fall down a flight of steps with a long descending scale. Such programs were certainly not intended to be hidden. Froberger published the Tombeau with a written preface that explained the details of how the lutenist, M. Blancheroche, died.

(c) Jason Stell