Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)

They begin with an examination of Frescobaldi's early years in Ferrara, where he absorbed the city's rich cultural heritage. Alongside excerpts from Frescobaldi's first publications, there is music by the predecessors and contemporaries whose influence rubbed off on him: Josquin Desprez, a former maestro di capella at the Ferrara court; Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Frescobaldi's teacher; Alessandro Grandi, Frescobaldi's younger colleague at the Accademia della Morte; Claudio Monteverdi, whom Stembridge sees as playing Handel to Frescobaldi's Bach; a trio of Neapolitan composers, Gesualdo, Mayone and De Macque; and a Venetian one - Giovanni Gabrieli.

Donald follows Frescobaldi on his single recorded excursion beyond Italy, to Flanders, in the company of the papal nuncio Guido Bentivoglio, then back to Rome and St Peter's, where he worked on and off for the rest of his life.

Frescobaldi: Canzona sopra Rugier (Canzoni da sonare)

Les Basses Reunies

Bruno Cocset (conductor)

Alpha 053, Tr 3

Josquin: Kyrie (Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae)

David James, Ashley Stafford, Robert Jones (countertenors)

Rogers Covey-Crump, John Potter, Mark Padmore (tenors)

Gordon Jones (baritone)

Paul Hillier, David Beavan (basses)

Hilliard Ensemble

Paul Hillier (director)

EMI CDC 7 49960 2, Tr 1

Luzzaschi: O dolcezz'amarissime d'Amore (Madrigali a uno, due e tre soprani)

Musica Secreta:

Deborah Roberts, Tessa Bonner (sopranos)

Mary Nichols (contralto)

Paula Chateauneuf (chitarrone)

Amon Ra CD-SAR 58, Tr 7

Grandi: O quam tu pulchra es

Henri Ledroit (countertenor)

Ricercar Consort:

Philippe Pierlot (bass viol)

Bernard Foccroulle (harpsichord)

Ricercar RIC 013028, Tr 4

Monteverdi: Cruda Amarilli (Quinto libro de madrigali)

Concerto Italiano

Rinaldo Alessandrini (conductor)

Opus 111 30-166, Tr 1

De Macque: Prime stravaganze

Christopher Stembridge (harpsichord by Denzil Wraight)

Ars Musici AM 1207-2, Tr 12

Gesualdo: Gagliarda

Ars Musici AM 1207-2, Tr 18

Mayone: Toccata Quarta

Ars Musici AM 1207-2, Tr 20

Frescobaldi: Three madrigals (Il primo libro dei madrigali)

Rossana Bertini, Elisa Franzetti (sopranos)

Gloria Banditelli (mezzo-soprano)

Claudio Cavina (alto)

Giuseppe Maletto, Sandro Naglia (tenors)

Sergio Foresti (basss)

Mara Galassi (arpa doppia)

Andrea Damiani (theorbo)

Rinaldo Alessandrini (director)

Opus 111 30-133, Trs 10, 21, 11

Frescobaldi: Two fantasias (Il primo libro delle Fantasie a quattro); Fantasia duodecima sopra quattro soggetti

Liuwe Tamminga (organ)

San Petronio Basilica, Bologna: Organ in Cornu Epistolae by San Lorenzo da Prato and Giovanni Battista Facchetti

San Petronio Basilica, Bologna: Organ in Cornu Evangelii by Baldassarre Malamini (1596)

Accent ACC 24169, Trs 3, 18

G Gabrieli: Canzo: La Spiritata (Raveri's anthology of 1608, Venice)

His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts:

Jeremy West, Jamie Savan (cornetts)

Abigail Newman, Stephen Saunders (sackbutts)

Gary Cooper (organ)

SFZ Music, pre-release

Frescobaldi: Canzon a 8 (Raveri's anthology of 1608, Venice)

Jamie Savan, Jeremy West (cornets)

Adam Woolf, Abigail Newman, Emily White, Phillip Dale (sackbutts)

Stephen Saunders, Anthony Harwood-White (bass sackbutts)

SFZ Music, pre-release.

Donald Macleod explores Frescobaldi's early years in Ferrara.

They focus on Frescobaldi's keyboard music and, in particular, on his groundbreaking publication in 1615 of the First Book of Toccatas and Partitas, which the composer rushed into print a year ahead of schedule in his attempts to land a plum job at the Mantuan court.

Frescobaldi: Corrente Terza (Toccate e partite libro primo, 1616 print)

Roberto Loreggian (harpsichord)

Brilliant Classics 93767, CD 2 Tr 7

Frescobaldi: Ricercar Decimo (Obligo la, fa, sol, la, re), 1615

Performed in the studio by Christopher Stembridge (harpsichord)

Frescobaldi: Partite 12 sopra l'Aria di Ruggiero (Toccate e partite libro primo, 1616)

Rinaldo Alessandrini (harpsichord attributed to Giovani Celestini, Venice, c. 1605)

Arcana A904, CD 1 Tr 8

Caccini: Amarilli, mia bella

James Bowman (countertenor)

Skip Sempe (organ)

Jay Bernfeld (viola da gamba)

Arion ARN 68046, Tr 5

Philips (after Caccini): Amarilli, mia bella

Frescobaldi: Toccata nona (Toccate e partite libro primo)

Frescobaldi: Partite di Follia (Toccate e partite libro primo)

Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (harpsichord)

Ermitage 427-2 DDD, Tr 2

Frescobaldi: Toccata sesta (Toccate e partite libro primo)

(unreleased recording)

Frescobaldi: Toccata undecima (Toccate e partite libro primo)

Frescobaldi: Toccata decima (Toccate e partite libro primo)

(unreleased recording).

Donald Macleod focuses on Frescobaldi's keyboard music.

They focus on Frescobaldi's vocal and instrumental work, including a selection of his motets, part-songs and instrumental canzonas from the 1620s, when he was in Rome and presiding at the organ in the basilica of St Peter's.

Con dolcezza e pietate (Primo libro d'arie musicali)

Rene Jacobs (countertenor)

Nigel Rogers (tenor)

Michael Schopper (bass)

Hopkinson Smith (lute)

Kathi Gohl (cello)

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi GD 77244, Tr 9

Capriccio sopra la Bassa Fiammenga (Il primo libro di capricci)

John Butt (mid-18th century Italian organ in the O'Neill Collection)

Teldec 8.43774, Tr 5

Two motets (Liber secondus diversarum modulatonium)

L'aura Soave:

Antonella Tatulli, Diana Pelagatti (soprano)

Rolf Ehlers (tenor)

Angelo De Leonardis (bass)

Diego Cantalupi (theorbo)

Tactus 580602, Trs 15, 10

Five Canzonas (Primo libro delle canzoni)

ConSerto Musico

Roberto Loreggian (conductor)

Les Basses Reunies

Bruno Cocset (conductor)

Brilliant Classics 93766, CD 1, Trs 4, 16, 9

Alpha 053, Trs 12, 11

Frescobaldi: Six songs (Primo e Secundo libro d'arie musicali 1630)

Montserrat Figueras (soprano)

Hopkinson Smith (lute/theorbo/baroque guitar)

Johann Sonnleitner (organ/harpschord)

GD 77244, Trs 8, 5, 13, 14, 4, 1.

Donald Macleod focuses on Frescobaldi's vocal and instrumental work.

Featuring the musical compendium regarded by many as his masterpiece, Fiori musicali - Musical Flowers - of which Bach had a copy.

Frescobaldi: Canzon dopo la Pistola (Missa Della Madonna - Fiori Musicali)

Rinaldo Alessandrini (organ by Gian Giacomo Antegnati, 1554, in the church of S Maurizio, Monastero Maggiore, Milan)

Astree E 8714, CD 2 Tr 19

Frescobaldi: Variations on Detto balletto (Il secondo libro di toccate)

Christopher Stembridge (organ of San Petronio Bologna, by Baldassarre Malamini, 1596)

From the BBC Radio 3 programme Music for the Iron Voice, broadcast on 12 June 1985

Frescobaldi: Kyrie verses (Missa degli Apostoli - Fiori Musicali)

Rinaldo Alessandrini (organ)

Schola gregorienne:

Pietro Spagnoli, Roberto Abbondanza, Josep Cabre

Astree E 8714, CD 1 Trs 24-33

Frescobaldi: Missa della Madonna - Fiori Musicali (excerpts)

Lorenzo Ghielmi (organ by Gian Giacomo Antegnati, 1554, in the church of S Maurizio, Monastero Maggiore, Milan)

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 05472 77345 2, Trs 6, 10, 11, 8

Frescobaldi: Maddalena alla Croce (sonetto spirituale) - Primo libro d'arie musicali

Gloria Banditelli (mezzo-soprano)

Mara Galassi (arpa tripla)

Andrea Damiani (theorbo, lute, guitar)

Concerto Italiano

Rinaldo Alessandrini (director)

Opus 111 OPS 30-105, Tr 6

Music 6: Frescobaldi: Toccata terza: alla Levatione (Il secondo libro di toccate)

Ton Koopman (organ of Basilica di San Bernardino by L'Aquila)

Erato 4509-96544-2, Tr 16

Frescobaldi: Toccata quinta (Il secondo libro di toccate)

Ton Koopman (organ of Basilica di San Bernardino, L'Aquila, by Bernardino Mosca)

Erato 4509-96544-2, Tr 2

Frescobaldi: Bergamasca (Fiori Musicali)

Christopher Stembridge (organ of Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, by Giovanni Piffero, 1519)

From the BBC Radio 3 programme Music for the Iron Voice, broadcast on 12 June 1985.

Donald Macleod and Christopher Stembridge focus on Frescobaldi's music for organ.

They consider Frescobaldi's influence on later generations, including Johann Jakob Froberger, who came to study with Frescobaldi in 1637 after a spell as organist at the imperial court in Vienna; Bach, who studied Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali, and whose own Clavierubung and Art of Fugue show its influence; and Ligeti, who based the eleventh piece in his Musica Ricercata collection on Frescobaldi's Recercar Cromatico.

Frescobaldi: Balleto e Ciaccone (Toccate e partite Libro primo, 1637 aggiunta)

Rinaldo Alessandrini (harpsichord attributed to Giovani Celestini, Venice, c.1605)

Arcana A904, CD 1 Tr 4

Music 2: Frescobaldi: Toccata settima (Toccate e partite libro primo)

(unreleased recording)

Froberger: Toccata V all Levatione in D minor (Libro secondo, 1649)

Richard Egarr (organ)

Globe GLO 6022, CD 1 Tr 5

Froberger: Toccata I in A minor (Libro secondo)

Hans Knut Sveen (harpsichord after Ruckers, 1638, by J Katzman, Amsterdam)

Bergen Barokk BBR 901, Tr 1

Frescobaldi: Recercar con obligo del Basso come appare (Missa degli Apostoli, Fiori Musicali)

Rinaldo Alessandrini (organ by Gian Giacomo Antegnati, 1554, in the church of S Maurizio, Monastero Maggiore, Milan)

Astree E 8714, CD 2 Tr 5

Bach: Wir glauben all'an einen Gott, BWV680 (Clavierubung Part 3)

Ton Koopman (organ)

Teldec 4509984642, Tr 20

Frescobaldi: Ricercar cromatico post il credo (Missa degli Apostoli, Fiori Musicali)

Performed in the studio by Christopher Stembridge (harpsichord)

Ligeti: Omaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi (Music ricercata)

Andante misurato e tranquillo

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

Sony SK 62308, Tr 25

Frescobaldi: Aria di Passacaglia

James Bowman (countertenor)

Skip Sempe (harpsichord)

Jay Bernfeld (viola da gamba)

Arion ARN 68046, Tr 6

Frescobaldi: Partite cento sopra il Passachagli (Toccate e partite Libro primo, 1637 aggiunta)

Christopher Stembridge (harpsichord by Giovanni Battista Boni, 1619)

First heard in a BBC Radio 3 broadcast on 23 September 1993.

Donald Macleod considers Frescobaldi's influence on later generations.

Girolamo Frescobaldi established the keyboard style that would dominate Europe in the Baroque era. His life throws a light on the nepotism and patronage at the heart of Italy in the 17th century, and how it created extraordinary music and spectacle.... breaking the bank in the process. Donald Macleod and his guest Robert Quinney, Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, explore Frescobaldi's story alongside some of the other great musicians of his time, who fell into his orbit.

Today, Donald and Robert look at Frescobaldi's crucial years in Ferrara, where he came under the influence of composer and teacher Luzzasco Luzzaschi.

Partite Sopra Ciaccona

Anthonello

Yoshimichi Hamada, conductor

Frescobaldi: Canzona Terza a 2

Concerto di Margherita

Il primo libro delle fantasie a quattro:

Fantasia prima, sopra un soggietto

Fantasia undecima, sopra quattro soggietti

Francesco Tasini, organ

Luzzaschi: Madrigali

Girolamo Frescobaldi established the keyboard style that would dominate Europe in the Baroque era. His life throws a light on the nepotism and patronage at the heart of Italy in the 17th century, and how it created extraordinary music and spectacle.... breaking the bank in the process.

Donald Macleod and his guest Robert Quinney, Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, explore Frescobaldi's story alongside some of the other great musicians of his time, who fell into his orbit.

Today, Donald and Robert look at Frescobaldi's life after leaving his hometown, Ferrara. Initially arriving in Rome, he was soon travelling across Europe, trying to make a name for himself.

Canzon terza

Philadelphia Brass

New England Brass Ensemble

Cleveland Brass Ensemble

Chicago Brass Quintet

E. Power Biggs, conductor

Partite sopra L'Aria della Romanesca

Silvia Rambaldi, harpsichord

Peter Philips: Salve Regina

Gonville and Caius College Choir, Cambridge

In Echo

Matthew Martin, director

William Byrd: Pavan and Galliard (from The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, Nos. 174-5)

Pieter-Jan Belder, harpsichord

19 Madrigals, Book 1

1a parte: Giunt'e pur lidia il mio

S'io miro in te, m'uccidi

Modo Antiquo

Bettina Hoffmann, director

Toccate e partite d'intavolatura di cimbalo et organo, libro primo

Toccata ottava

Sergio Vartolo, harpsichord

Arie musicali per cantarsi, Book 2: Vanne, o carta amorosa

James Bowman, countertenor

Jay Bernfeld, viol

Skip Semp退, harpsichord

We follow Frescobaldi as he travels across Europe, trying to make a name for himself.

Donald Macleod and his guest Robert Quinney, Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, explore Frescobaldi's story alongside some of the other great musicians of is time, who fell into his orbit.

Today, Donald and Robert look at Girolamo Frescobaldi's discovery of his own agency - rejecting households whose wooing of him wasn't sufficiently enticing, as successful composers across Europe were beginning to assert their own worth.

Partite Sopra Ciaccona - Corrente

(arr. K. Buhl-Mortensen, A. Christensen and M. Westheimer)

Kristian Buhl-Mortensen, baroque guitar

Monica Westheimer, harpsichord

Il primo libro delle fantasie:

Fantasia prima, sopra un soggietto

Fantasia seconda, sopra un soggietto solo

Francesco Tasini, organ

Francesco Soriano: Missa Nos autem gloriari oportet:

Regensburg Vokalsolisten

Josef Kohlh䀀ufl, director

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Tu es Petrus a 6

Westminster Cathedral Choir,

Martin Baker, conductor

Fiori musicali: Messa della Domenica:

Canzon post il Comune

Bergamasca

Ton Koopman, organ

Toccate e partite d'intavolatura di cimbalo et organo, libro primo:

Toccata quarta

Balletto prima

Corrente del balletto

Passacagli

Richard Lester, harpsichord

Frescobaldi rejects households whose wooing of him wasn't sufficiently enticing.

Donald Macleod and his guest Robert Quinney, Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, explore Frescobaldi's story alongside some of the other great musicians of his time, who fell into his orbit.

Today, Donald and Robert look at how Pope Urban VIII's reign fostered a vibrant period of music in Rome in the early 17th century.

Toccata no. 10 in D Minor

E. Power Biggs, organ

Stefano Landi: La morte d'Orfeo, Op. 2:

Act I Scene 1: Teti, del mar regina (Teti, Fato)

Act II Scene 2: Tu lieto canti, Orfeo, e il tempo vola (Ebro, Orfeo)

John Elwes, tenor (Orfeo)

Harry van der Kamp, bass (Ebro)

David Cordier, countertenor (Teti)

Lieven Deroo, bass (Fato)

Tragicomedia

Stephen Stubbs, director

Arie musicali

Book 2: No. 19. Vanne, o carta amorosa

Book 2: No. 18. Ti lascio, anima mia

Concerto Italiano

Rinaldo Alessandrini, director

Jacques Arcadelt: Madrigali, Book 1: Ahime, dov'耀'l bel viso: Madrigali, Book 1: Ancidetemi pur, grievi martiri

Cappella Mediterranea

Leonardo Garc퀀a Alarc　n, director

Toccate, canzone, versi d'hinni, Magnificat, gagliarde, correnti, Book 2: Ancidetemi pur d'Archadelt passeggiato

Roberto Loreggian, harpsichord

Johann Hieronymous Kapsberger: I pastori di Bettelemme (excerpt):

Constanze Backes, soprano

Chiyuki Okamura, soprano

Franz Vitzthum, countertenor

Clementine Jesdinsky, soprano

Christian Dietz, tenor

Markus Flaig, bass

Echo du Danube Ensemble

Arie musicali per cantarsi, Book 1: Cos쀀 mi disprezzate (Aria di passacaglia)

Mariana Flores, soprano

Ensemble Clematis

Leonardo Garcia-Alarcon, director

Pope Urban VIII's reign fostered a vibrant period of music.

Girolamo Frescobaldi established the keyboard style that would dominate Europe in the Baroque era. His life throws a light on the nepotism and patronage at the heart of Italy in the 17th century, and how it created extraordinary music and spectacle.... breaking the bank in the process.

Donald Macleod and his guest Robert Quinney, Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, explore Frescobaldi's story alongside some of the other great musicians of his time, who fell into his orbit.

Today, Donald and Robert look at the last hurrah of the free-spending Barberini pontificate in Rome, as Frescobaldi returns to take on a prestigious musical position there.

Canzona duodecima detta la Todeschina

Battalia

Stefano Landi: Il sant'alessio:

Act III: Lasciate il pianto (Chorus)

Act III: O mia Consorte (Eufemiano, Madre, Sposa)

Act III: Vive Alessio (Wieczorek, Maryseult -

Act III: Il Ciel vagheggia (Chorus)

Act III: Godi pur alma gradita

Nicolas Rivenq, baritone (Eufemiano)

Sophie Marin-Degor, soprano (Sposa)

Cecile Eloir, mezzo-soprano (Madre)

Maryseult Wieczorek, mezzo-soprano (Religione)

Les Arts Florissants Chorus

William Christie, director

Johann Jakob Froberger: Suite (Partita) No. 30 in A Minor, FbWV 630

Anne Marie Dragosits, harpsichord

Marco Marazzoli: Dialogo fra Rosinda ed Olindo

Rosa de la Soledad, soprano

Nora Tabbush, soprano

Ensemble Mare Nostrum

Andrea de Carlo, director

Missa sopra l'aria della monica: Credo

Stagione Armonica Choir

Schola Gregoriana de La Stagione Armonica

Sergio Balestracci, conductor

Cento Partite Sopra Passacagli:

Markus Markl, harpsichord

Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Audio Wales and West