Dale Carr | Toccata in e minor by Johann Jacob Froberger {FbWV 108} performed by Dale Carr on October 17, 1972 @dalecarr6361 | Uploaded July 2023 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Toccata in e minor by Johann Jacob Froberger {FbWV 108}, performed by Dale Carr on October 17, 1972, on an Italian-style harpsichord made by Frank Hubbard in 1970
Froberger {1616-1667} studied with Frescobaldi {1583-1643} in Rome from 1637-1641. Exactly *what* he studied we can best infer, I think, from a comparison of his works with those of his teacher. Their toccatas provide fascinating material for the comparison.
Very generally, Frescobaldi's toccatas tend to have more fluid, i.e. less clear, sectional marcations than those of Froberger, in which internal cadences are often more conclusive. Froberger's toccatas are often comprised of 4 sections: free, imitative, free, imitative developing into a florid conclusion; whereas those of Frescobaldi have relatively fewer and shorter imitative sections, if any. This development proceeds even further in the slightly later toccatas of Buxtehude, for example, which are even more clearly sectional, and in which the imitative sections are often even longer.
This toccata is from a collection assembled in a manuscript in 1656, which was presented to Emperor Ferdinand III.
The harpsichord is an Italian-style instrument from the workshop of Frank Hubbard. It is patterned on an anonymous Italian instrument of ~1600, now in the collection of the University of Edinburgh. The legend is that an Italian employee of Hubbard's was unable to stay in the US and so returned to Italy, taking Hubbard's case drawings with him. There he built cases as required, using Italian wood, and sent them to Boston to be made into finished instruments. As it happens, this instrument was finished by Hendrik Broekman, who later built for me a 'copy' of the harpsichord by Michel Richard from 1688 now in the Yale collection. A photo of such an instrument can be seen at the end of the video.
I tuned in mean tone for this performance, using d# rather than e-flat, as required by the score.
Toccata in e minor by Johann Jacob Froberger {FbWV 108}, performed by Dale Carr on October 17, 1972, on an Italian-style harpsichord made by Frank Hubbard in 1970
Froberger {1616-1667} studied with Frescobaldi {1583-1643} in Rome from 1637-1641. Exactly *what* he studied we can best infer, I think, from a comparison of his works with those of his teacher. Their toccatas provide fascinating material for the comparison.
Very generally, Frescobaldi's toccatas tend to have more fluid, i.e. less clear, sectional marcations than those of Froberger, in which internal cadences are often more conclusive. Froberger's toccatas are often comprised of 4 sections: free, imitative, free, imitative developing into a florid conclusion; whereas those of Frescobaldi have relatively fewer and shorter imitative sections, if any. This development proceeds even further in the slightly later toccatas of Buxtehude, for example, which are even more clearly sectional, and in which the imitative sections are often even longer.
This toccata is from a collection assembled in a manuscript in 1656, which was presented to Emperor Ferdinand III.
The harpsichord is an Italian-style instrument from the workshop of Frank Hubbard. It is patterned on an anonymous Italian instrument of ~1600, now in the collection of the University of Edinburgh. The legend is that an Italian employee of Hubbard's was unable to stay in the US and so returned to Italy, taking Hubbard's case drawings with him. There he built cases as required, using Italian wood, and sent them to Boston to be made into finished instruments. As it happens, this instrument was finished by Hendrik Broekman, who later built for me a 'copy' of the harpsichord by Michel Richard from 1688 now in the Yale collection. A photo of such an instrument can be seen at the end of the video.
I tuned in mean tone for this performance, using d# rather than e-flat, as required by the score.
