Dale Carr | Courante by Froberger from the suite in D, performed by Dale Carr in Groningen on 7 October 1989 @dalecarr6361 | Uploaded December 2021 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Courante by Johann Jakob Froberger {1616-1667} from the suite in D Major,
performed by Dale Carr in the Pelstergasthuiskerk in Groningen on 7 October 1989 on a harpsichord built in 1975 by Hendrik Broekman, modeled on an instrument by Michel Richard, 1688

Before continuing the *b*-hunt in the courante of Froberger’s suite, I want to point out one of the ways that he approaches the *b* in previous movements.

Beginning with the 1st movement, the Méditation†: the very 1st *b* is approached by way of a striking chromatic movement via c𝄮, which is sounded 4 times {youtu.be/a-xA7wjrtMk?t=27 } before moving to *b*. Later, after a strong cadence on a chord of A major, with c# as the highest tone, there is another prominent c𝄮 {youtu.be/a-xA7wjrtMk?t=105 }, now as the highest tone of a 9th chord {!} above the bass tone *b*. These juxtapositions serve to alert the attentive listener to some kind of relationship between the *b* & the c𝄮.

Then in the gigue††, toward the end of the 1st section, we hear in the top voice another unexpected c𝄮 { youtu.be/pLuMy8GSC4Q?t=41}, which moves to yet another *b*, which is again not properly resolved to a consonant a. In the 2nd section immediately after the passage ‘avec discretion’, a passing c𝄮 in the uppermost voice {youtu.be/pLuMy8GSC4Q?t=95 } moves again to *b*, which is again left hanging. This *b* is further accented by the adjacent b𝄬. {This b𝄬 is not enharmonically equivalent to the a# that in the Méditation leads to the striking *b*-minor chord, but it is of course the same key on the keyboard.}

The approach to *b* via c𝄮 is heard also in the present courante, near the end. But the *b* is also accented earlier in the movement, in the 2nd harmony in the upper voice {youtu.be/MwvOtqOb-Pc?t=15}. Here there is nothing amiss, harmonically; but the melodic *b* does not proceed smoothly, i.e. stepwise, up to c{# or 𝄮} or down to a. At the end of this 1st section, the *b* is not very prominent, being part of a clear melodic descent d-c#-b-a {youtu.be/MwvOtqOb-Pc?t=29 }; but this transit through *b* is not sufficient to neutralize the charge of the *b* in the 1st measure.

In the 2nd ½ of the movement we hear the melodic progression c𝄮-*b*-{g#}-a-*b* {youtu.be/MwvOtqOb-Pc?t=67}, which again leaves the *b* melodically unresolved. In the final measures of this 2nd section we hear again c𝄮 moving to *b* in the top voice {youtu.be/MwvOtqOb-Pc?t=77}, with the *b* again left melodically hanging. The harmony here, including of course the treatment of the *b*, is a variant of the harmony at the end of the previous movement, the gigue.

† youtube.com/watch?v=a-xA7wjrtMk
†† youtube.com/watch?v=pLuMy8GSC4Q

Thanks to Frans Driesens { youtube.com/channel/UCmXEELNhALXg1vf2MBdLqHA } for the recording!

And thanks to everybody who listens!