Some notes on the early material
Some notes on the early keyboard literature we've been covering, not intended to be comprehensive or a substitute for being in class:
English virginal [a small, single-manual harpsichord] music
-Time period- late 16th-to early 17th century (i.e. late 1500s to early 1600s)- coincides with the end of the Renaissance and the beginnings of the Baroque
Principal composers:
-Founder of school- William Byrd
-Other important names- John Bull (sometimes compared to Liszt in his moments of overt virtuosity- also compositional virtuosity, e.g., In Nomine in 11/4; Fantasy which moves through all 12 tones!), Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Morley, Giles Farnaby
Principal genres:
-Pavane and galliard (paired dances, the first slow and stately, the second in triple meter, frequently in 3 strains, each of which can be restated in variation)
-Variations (continuous, often on a popular song)
-Also possible- In Nomine- a piece written based on a pre-existent piece of chant which forms a "cantus firmus", an underlying slow-moving structural line, for the work
Some musical characteristics:
-often relatively steady flow of rhythms and pace, in contrast to the more striking changes and contrasts in, say, the early Italian toccatas, or the fluid unmeasured writing of the early French preludes
-there can, however, be sudden bursts of rapid figuration or passagework
-number of chords tend to be fairly contained (frequently tonic, dominant, and subdominant) but made fresh by modal flavor (lowered 7ths), cross-relations (what we think of as both sides of minor and major in close co-existence, "retrogressions" (e.g. movt from a dominant "back" to a subdominant), and/or unusual or sudden shifting between keys (e.g. F and G in Byrd's Woods So Wilde, or G and C in Byrd's Sellinger's Round)
-texture often 3 or 4 parts, lightly contrapuntal
One of the largest, most important (and most easily accessible sources):
The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
(Other good sources: My Ladye Nevell's Booke (Byrd); Parthenia)
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Early Italians- emerged as outgrowth from the Renaissance composers A. Gabrieli and C. Merulo (2d half of the 16th century/ later 1500s)- these composers wrote primarily for organ- the music can have an improvisatory, non-contrapuntal character though some of Merulo's toccatas begin to add some contrapuntal elements as well
Founding composer of Italian Baroque Keyboard Music- Girolamo Frescobaldi- active in first half of 17th century- studied with late Renaissance master Luzzaschi; was teacher of Froberger
Main genres of Frescobaldi and the early Italian Baroque keyboard:
-toccatas (from "toccare"- to touch)
-variations (called Partite)
-fugal-type works, such as Canzone, Fantasias, Ricercares, Capriccios
Musical characteristics:
-colorful though not necessarily functional harmony
-frequent changes of texture and even tempo in sectional works such as toccatas
-performance freedoms, including tempo changes to suit character, slowing at cadences, and even the possibility of certain cuts, or certain sections played separately and ending at an appropriate cadence, are sanctioned by composer
-toccatas have a strongly improvisatory feel (Frescobaldi was a wonderful improviser)
-toccata publication originally specified for harpsichord; revised edition for harpsichord or organ
Also notable: Giovanni Maria Trabaci (c. 1575-1647)- see example from class of a work which combines fugal/contrapuntal and variation principles- the latter was a Neopolitan who also composed some works in a more extravant, dissonantly chromatic style
Two of the genres in which Frescobaldi and his contemporaries, in both Italy and other regions, wrote:
Canzona- A canzona comes from the French chanson, a popular genre from the later Renaissance (early 1500s). It was originally vocal, with a lively rhythmic character. Instrumental canzonas gradually became more complex, moving to contrapuntal textures with multiple sections. In some cases, composers would write a variation canzona, in which each of the short sections is based on the same motive, but in a varied form. Canzonas are one of the early Baroque genres which ultimately helped lead to the fugue.
Toccata- a keyboard which takes advantage of the instrument's particular kind of virtuosity (most typically rapid passage work). The word comes from the Italian "toccare", meaning "to touch". Initially, in the late Renaissance and early Baroque, toccatas had a veryimprovisatory character, and while later Baroque toccatas retained some off the quality, they also contained a variety of more defined sections, which could include fugal ones.
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Early French keyboard music- likely an outgrowth from the French lutenists, whose works culminated in the music of Denis Gaultier (1603-1672), though it's possible the keyboard and lute traditions developed more concurrently
Main 17th-century French clavecin [harpsichord] composers: Jacques Champion de Chambonierres (1602-1672); Jean-Henri D'Anglebert (1635-1691); Elisabeth de la Guerre (1667?-1729); Louis Couperin (1626-1661)
Most common genres- dances, character pieces, preludes
Some musical characteristics:
-emphasis on elegance and grace of line
-not particularly contrapuntal or virtuosic
-ornaments crucial to style (esp in 18th-century works of Francois Couperin)
-harmonic language relatively contained
-notation not reflective of rhythmic exactness: unmeasured preludes demand rhythmic realization by performer; other such performance conventions include double-dotting and notes inegales; performer must have strong sense of style
-Rather than a suite as a tautly integrated unit, many movements could be collected together in a single Order, and the performer could select a suite from among them
Principal 18th-century French composers: Francois Couperin (1668-1733) and Jean-Philippe Rameau
-Couperin- exceptionally idiomatic music for harpsichord (has been called the Chopin of the harpsichord); wide expressive range- wrote an influential treatise, L'art de toucher le clavecin (The Art of Harpsichord Playing)
-his keyboard music is basically contained in 27 "orders", which resemble suites although they may be much larger, containing multiple examples of a single dance type (and thus, a selection rather than an entirety may be appropriate for performance)
-his principal keyboard genres are dance movements, preludes, and "character" pieces, works with often fanciful and evocative titles
-ornament in Couperin is not an optional element but an essential and indispensable part of his style
-Couperin's treatise is very significant in spelling out certain aspects of contemporary French performance, including such issues as notes inegales, tables of ornamentation, etc.
-Rameau- sometimes more athletic or overtly virtuosic than Couperin (including crossed hands, rapid leaps, arpeggiated and scalar passages); later works tend more towards character pieces than dance movements; wrote a very influential treatise on harmony
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Germany and the Netherlands
The music of the region took slightly longer to develop its own idiomatic style, drawing on the strengths of other regions (French dance suites, English variations, Italian toccatas) and adding its own features (a penchant for counterpoint) and heritage (chorale tunes), ultimately culminating in the unequaled synthesis of J.S. Bach. Even as early as Froberger, a composer whose music Bach knew and esteemed, an important synthesis was already occuring.
Some important names:
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
-famous teacher, particularly of keyboard composition and performance
-important conveyor of the English virginalist school to the continent (definitely knew John Bull and his music)
-at border of Renaissance and Baroque eras- worked within genres of the time- e.g., toccatas, fantasies, variations
-strong contrapuntal component
Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-67)
-crucial early synthesizer; considered the founder of the �modern� Baroque suite, with its core dances of Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue (though originally not in that order)
-student of Frescobaldi who also worked in France- thus his music assimilates both the Italian toccata and the French dance while adding a component of stronger tonal clarity, structural organization, and counterpoint
Dietrich Buxtehude (c. 1637-1707)- North German organist and composer (whom Bach reportedly walked 200 miles on foot to hear in person)
-works tend to be either based on a chorale melody (as in Chorale Variations) or "free", such as preludes, fantasies, suites, and variations- strong contrapuntal component (e.g. Buxtehude's Praeludia used both improvisational and fugal sections)
J.F.K. Fischer (Johann Caspar Fishcer- c. 1670-1746)
-works included Ariadne Musica (1702)- collection of 20 preludes and fugues in nineteen different major and minor keys [2 in e minor, with different modal associations]; a kind of precursor to Bach's WTC
-also wrote numerous Suites and Fugues
Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722)
-perhaps best known for his programmatic biblical sonatas [1700] (these were likely the influence on Bach's Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother), though composed a range of works and was also a compositional theorist
-"With Kuhnau, as with so many of his immediate predecessors, we may be seeing the emergence of one of the most striking aspects of later German musical culture; within the cultivation of formalized, seemingly abstract structures, the German composer seems to communicate the greatest depth of emotion, creating the most disturbing or sublime metaphors for human experience." (John Butt, in Keyboard Music Before 1700)
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)- born in Germany, travels to Italy, moves ultimately to England. Handel was extremely cosmopolitan in his life and in his music. His keyboard output is relatively limited, including the "Eight Great Suites" as they are informally known, as well as a modest collection of other works, including primarily other suites. The types of movements used show some of Handel's diverse stylistic range, including traditional dance movements, but also fugues, preludes, variations, and movements suggestive of Italian sonatas and labelled only with a tempo indication.
