[THE PRECURSORS OF BACH]
FRESCOBALDI—FROBERGER—PACHELBEL—BUXTEHUDE
Frescobaldi was born at Ferrara in 1583, and the same year at his baptism in the Cathedral received the Christian names Girolamo and Alessandro.
His first teacher was his father, who was organist at one of the churches in Ferrara. According to his own testimony he afterward studied under the direction of Luzzasco Luzzaschi,[6] to whom Claudio Merulo, himself an excellent organist and thus a competent judge, accorded the title of the "first organist in Italy"; Vincenzo Galilei ranked Luzzaschi among the four greatest musicians of his day. To the instruction given by this master, well known for the clear and thoughtful conception of his works, were added the counsels of Francesco Milleville,[7] likewise an organist at Ferrara. Milleville was of French descent, brought up upon the old traditions of the Flemish contrapuntists, and the part which he played in the musical development of young Girolamo is worthy of emphasis; for this interchange or commerce of ideas between the northern countries and Italy produced the greatest musicians of the sixteenth century. Josquin de Près,[8] born at Cambrai in 1445, and a pupil of Ockeghem, completed his education at Rome while he was a member of the papal choir. Willaert, born in Flanders, studied in Rome, and in Venice became the head of the Flemish school. Finally, Palestrina was a pupil of Goudimel, a Frenchman.
Frescobaldi was not destined to depart from the footsteps of such illustrious predecessors; desiring to pursue further the studies for which he had acquired a taste from Milleville, he, too, set out for Flanders while still young.[9] The exact date of that journey has never been determined; it seems probable that it was in the year 1607. For in that year Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio, archbishop of Rhodes and legate of Pope Paul V., was sent to the Netherlands (Guido Bentivoglio was born at Ferrara in 1579); and, moreover, on January 10, 1608, Frescobaldi dedicated to him one of his finest works, a collection of five-part madrigals, which was published by Peter Phalesius in Antwerp. Again, it would not be strange if Frescobaldi, in 1607, had followed to another country a compatriot whom he regarded as his protector. According to Fétis (preface to Trésor des Pianistes, by Farrenc), Frescobaldi occupied from this time the position of organist at the Church of St.-Rombaut, in Malines.
But he did not retain this position long, for in 1608 we find him again in Milan. From this time the events of his life are unknown until 1614, when upon the death of Ercole Pasquini, organist of St. Peter's in Rome, Frescobaldi became his successor. If we may believe Abbé Baini, the fame of Frescobaldi was already so widespread that upon the day when he assumed his new duties he played to thirty thousand people.
Musical criticism at the time, represented by Della Valle and Lelio Guidiccioni, records that while his style was less profound, it was more elastic and agreeable than that of his predecessors. Such a criticism, especially coming from Guidiccioni, who was most exacting upon the subject of technique,[10] would indicate that Frescobaldi possessed a genuine advantage over his contemporaries. At the present day one would say that he played the organ with a pianist's touch; if one replace this criticism in its historic frame, one may imagine the continuous use of trills, scales, mordents and appoggiaturas: an inheritance from the German "colorists." While perhaps a mistaken usage, how else could one have made one's self heard throughout the immense nave of St. Peter's, upon an organ of fourteen registers, with but one manual and an incomplete pedal? Boldness and dash, that which we understand by brio, had to compensate for paucity of tone.
Although he was comparatively sparing of ornaments in his compositions, particularly those destined especially for religious services, he never departed from a florid style in his improvisations, which bristled with feats of skill and agility of technique. Abbé Maugars, who knew him at Rome in 1639, still praised the ornamentation and the marvellous cleverness of his improvised Toccatas.
In 1643 Frescobaldi retired, having already enjoyed leave of absence from 1628 to 1633; these years he spent at Florence, in the service of Ferdinand II., Grand Duke of Tuscany.