Frescobaldi: Complete Unpublished Works for Harpsichord and Organ

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583- 1643) was one of the most important and influential composers for the keyboard in the early 17th century. He embraced the late renaissance style in his early output, and by the end of his life had contributed some of the most impressive and influential works to the early Italian baroque.

The son of an organist, he was born in the northern city of Ferrara into a wealthy family. His employer, the Duke Alfonso II d'Este was obsessed with music, and spent several hours a day listening, spending considerable financial resources into music making at court. Young Frescobaldi obviously thrived in this environment for he soon took up employment for the Duke of Mantua, and later became organist to the Medici in Florence from 1628-34. He then went even further by moving to Rome to work for the Barberini family of Pope Urban VIII. In this elite society he mingled with such names as Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona.

Although Frescobaldi was influenced by numerous earlier composers such as the Neapolitans Ascanio Mayone and Giovanni Maria Trabaci and the Venetian Claudio Merulo, his music represents much more than a summary of its influences. Aside from his masterful treatment of traditional forms, Frescobaldi is important for his numerous innovations, particularly in the field of tempo: unlike his predecessors, he would include in his pieces sections in contrasting tempi, and some of his publications include a lengthy preface detailing tempo-related aspects of performance.

This new recording presents the complete unpublished works for harpsichord and organ, a collection of Toccatas, Canzonas, Correntes, Sonatas and Ricercares.

With this release Roberto Loreggian completes his Frescobaldi odyssey, his recording of the published keyboard works on Brilliant Classics having received glowing reviews in the international press.