Toccata: From Claudio Merulo to Johann Sebastian Bach

Featuring

Andrea Buccarella
Claudio Merulo
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Giovanni Picchi
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Michelangelo Rossi

Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Caspar von Kerll
Matthias Weckmann
Dietrich Buxtehude
Johann Adam Reincken
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Recording & Production

This recording is a result of a partnership between Outhere Music and the International Competition Musica Antiqua in Bruges, Belgium.

Historical Context

The Venetian toccata form was first spread to the Low Countries and northern Germany through the works and teaching of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, an organist of the Oude Kerk of Amsterdam.

Compositional Technique

Claudio Merulo, an Italian composer, developed the toccata genre by introducing a five-section form that influenced later toccata development, especially in Germany.

Instruments

The harpsichords used in this recording were made by Philippe Humeau, a harpsichord maker from Barbaste, France.

Composer Biography

Johann Jacob Froberger, a pupil of Frescobaldi, was instrumental in spreading Frescobaldi's toccata style throughout Europe, particularly in Austria, Germany, and the Low Countries, through his extensive travels.

Compositional Technique

Girolamo Frescobaldi's toccatas marked a new era, becoming the keyboard equivalent of madrigals, where formal elements expressed emotion and required total tempo flexibility.