Johann Jakob Froberger
In Grundlage einer Ehrenpforte (1740) Mattheson writes that a certain Swedish ambassador was so impressed with Froberger's musical skills that he took the 18-year-old musician to Vienna and presumably recommended him to the imperial court.
[5] If so, Froberger's intention must have been acquiring mastery of vocal composition of the prima pratica (Frescobaldi, who taught him instrumental writing, died in 1643).
On his way back he stopped in Florence and Mantua to show the arca musurgica, a powerful compositional device Kircher taught him, to some of the Italian princes.
According to a pupil, after Dresden Froberger visited Cologne, Düsseldorf, Zeeland, Brabant and Antwerp;[1] we also know that he also visited Brussels at least two times (in 1650 and 1652), London (after a disastrous voyage during which Froberger got robbed, an event he described musically in Plainte faite à Londres pour passer la mélancholie) and, most importantly, Paris (at least once, in 1652).
In Paris Froberger most probably became acquainted with many major French composers of the era, including Chambonnières, Louis Couperin, Denis Gaultier and possibly François Dufault.
The latter two were famous lutenists writing in the characteristic French idiom of style brisé, which influenced Froberger's later harpsichord suites.
Although Blancrocher himself was not an important composer,[6] his death left a mark on the history of music, as Couperin, Gaultier, Dufaut and Froberger all wrote tombeaux lamenting the event.
His relationship with Ferdinand's successor, Leopold I, was strained for a number of political reasons (numerous forces were opposed to Leopold's election, and among them were the Jesuit order and Johann Philipp von Schönborn, Elector-Archbishop of Mainz; Froberger's mentor and friend Kircher was an important figure in the former, and Froberger had strong ties with the court of the latter.
Problems arise with many of the newly discovered copies: either Froberger was constantly reworking his compositions, or the scribes were not attentive enough, but many works exist in several variants, some of which even have whole movements changed.
Froberger's keyboard adaptation of the French lute style brisé almost invariably shows itself in most pieces written during and after his Paris visit.
Froberger's allemandes abandon the original dance's rhythmic scheme almost completely, abounding in short gestures, figures, ornaments and runs typical of style brisé.
Some of the works feature written indications such as "f" and "piano" (to notate an echo effect), "doucement" ("gently") an "avec discrétion" (expressive rubato).
In some of the sources such markings are particularly abundant, and the newly (2004) discovered Berlin Sing-Akademie SA 4450 manuscript adds similar indications to free sections in organ toccatas.
[11] Some suites feature doubles; in a few, the courante is a derivative of the allemande (although this is rare; more often Froberger unites the two dances by giving them somewhat similar beginnings, but keeps the rest of the material different).
For instance, the Allemande, faite en passat le Rhin contains 26 numbered passages with explanation for each; the Blancrocher tombeau features a written preface in which the circumstances of the lutenist's death are recounted, etc.
The structure and style of Froberger's programmatic works, as well as his allemandes, contributed to the development of the unmeasured prelude through the efforts of Louis Couperin.
In terms of organisation, Froberger's toccatas are reminiscent of those by Michelangelo Rossi, also a student of Frescobaldi; instead of being composed of numerous brief parts, they feature a few tightly woven sections, alternating between strict polyphony and free, improvisational passages.
Whereas in Frescobaldi's oeuvre the fantasia and the ricercare are markedly different genres (the fantasia being a relatively simple contrapuntal composition that expands, as it progresses, into a flurry of intense, rhythmically complex counterpoint; the ricercare being essentially a very strict contrapuntal piece with easily audible lines and somewhat archaic in terms of structure), Froberger's are practically similar.
A typical Froberger ricercare or fantasia uses a single subject (with different rhythmic variations for different sections) throughout the whole piece, and the counterpoint adheres almost flawlessly to the 16th century prima pratica.
A characteristic feature is the economy of themes: the episodes, which are somewhat rare, are almost invariably based on the material from the subject, somewhat like those in JS Bach's work some 60–70 years later.
These motets are quite similar in style: both are scored for a three-voice (STB) choir, two violins and organ (which is given a single melodic line, not polyphony, as was common in Italian motets of the time), and cast in the early 17th century Venetian stile concertante,[13] in marked contrast with Froberger's preference for older techniques in his polyphonic keyboard works.
Another connection to contemporary practice is that the small ensemble is almost identical to one used by Heinrich Schütz in the second volume of Symphoniae sacrae published in 1647.
Furthermore, copies in Mozart's hand of the Hexachord Fantasia survive, and even Beethoven knew Froberger's work through Albrechtsberger's teachings.
Although the polyphonic pieces were highly esteemed in the 17th and 18th centuries, today Froberger is chiefly remembered for his contribution to the development of the keyboard suite.
Indeed, he established the form almost single-handedly and, through innovative and imaginative treatment of standard dance forms of the time, paved the way for Johann Sebastian Bach's elaborate contributions to the genre (not to mention almost every major composer in Europe, since the vast majority composed suites and were influenced by the "French style" exemplified by Froberger).
