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.]
This same volume contains a Ricercata upon the hexachord (pp. 1-14), remarkably developed, and exhibiting a determination suggestive of scholastic restraint; and a _recercar_ with four subjects (p. 137).
In the _Canzoni_, grace and interest of movement particularly are revealed; in some pieces expressive themes of a chromatic character lend a certain sentimental charm, while others, for instance those of which mention has already been made, serve chiefly as examples of ingenuity and cleverness. But the _Toccatas_ of Frescobaldi combine all these characteristics, sometimes contrasted with or dominated by, in addition, a stately dignity, an incomparable breadth. And, moreover, they were conceived expressly for the organ, in their more lofty character, and written upon the staff then in use for that instrument.[19] They display all its resources, within a legitimate compass, although limited by the ability of the executants and by the deficiencies of the Italian organ manufacture of the period; the performers being little accustomed to the use of the pedal, and the Italian manufacture less advanced than that of the Germans. In fact, little could be demanded of the organist beyond long-sustained pedal-notes; and never do these works indicate that organs with several manuals were at that time constructed in Italy.
[Footnote 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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While in the Toccatas[20] the themes are developed noticeably in what we may term sections or plans, these are strictly contrasts of movement rather than of intensity of sound.
[Footnote 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.]
Frescobaldi placed more confidence in the finger dexterity of his pupils than in their facility with the pedals. To the more apt ones among them were addressed these words: "_Chi questa Bergamasca sonerà, non pocho imparerà_," written at the beginning of his variations upon the popular melody of the "Bergamasca";[21] and, again, at the end of the ninth Toccata in the second book: "_Non senza fatiga si giunge al fine_."
[Footnote 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:
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As examples of another style must also be mentioned the _Pastorale_, or rather the _Capriccio fatto sopra la Pastorale_, the themes of which were borrowed later by Händel from the same popular source from which Frescobaldi obtained them; this caprice has a pedal part, which proves it to have been expressly designed for the organ.[22]
[Footnote 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.