He did not long survive his retirement in 1643, which, however, was not absolute, for he took up the position of organist at the little Church of St. Lawrence in montibus. He died March 2, 1644; and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles.
Frescobaldi's works—which cover the entire period of his life—are very numerous;[11] they were written, as a rule, for organ or harpsichord indifferently; one of his compositions, published at Rome in 1638, even bears the following title, "Canzoni a 1, 2, 3, 4 voci, written to be sung or to be played by all varieties of instruments." In some of his works a certain predetermination is nevertheless evident, recognizable either through their appropriateness for religious service, or by their obbligato pedal part, as in the Toccatas.
The collection of Fiori musicali[12] belongs to this category, for, with the exception of such pieces as the Bergamasca or the Girolameta, it contains only selections designed for performance during church service.
Apart from their intrinsic value, these compositions comprising the Fiori musicali bear for us this very potent interest: they are, without exception, copied entirely by the hand of Bach;[13] which shows the importance he attached to them and the pains he took to study them.
This collection includes three masses: the Missa della Domenica, delli (sic) Apostoli, and della Madonna, each one consisting of a Toccata for a prelude, of the versets of the Kyrie, and of pieces written to correspond to the various portions of the office, suitably designated; thus (p. 49), Recercar cromaticho post il Credo, or (p. 77), Canzon dopo la pistola (sic).
The versets of the Kyrie, in the three masses, are for the greater part more properly "Ecclesiastical songs without words," as Ambrose said, than compositions of a purely instrumental character; in fact, they are written strictly within the compass of the voice, and only the long duration of single notes (as in the alto on page 7, or in the soprano on page 8) precludes the possibility of their being sung.
Curious is the effect of the pedal notes, sustained from the beginning to the end of a verse; and we find remarkable examples of a polyphonic accompaniment to the text, doubly interesting because of the continual reappearance of the theme, either in its integrity or slightly modified.
Further, while making use of the accidentals required by the modulation of the parts in the counterpoint, and especially in cadences, Frescobaldi respects as much as possible the diatonic character of the Gregorian scale; he adheres to it with as little variation as possible, particularly when he brings it into prominence. The mode, the Dorian, remains uppermost in the mind of the auditor, and the counterpoint is most often derived from the same tone, sometimes in imitation, at others in ingenious inversions of the melody which it accompanies. One of the more elaborate of these versets, the Kyrie ultimo of the Missa della domenica, ends with an allegro, a veritable alla breve.[14]
If in nature these versets partake somewhat of the character of compositions for voices, we find in other numbers of the Fiori musicali a very close affiliation with vocal music. We refer to that grace and flexibility of proportion which prompts us to say of this theme, of that counterpoint, "It is musical!" Especially in the canzoni do we find these expressive qualities.