FRESCOBALDI, GIROLAMO

Distinguished baroque composer and Vatican organist; b. Ferrara, c. August 1583; d. Rome, March 1, 1643. As a youth he had a voice of great beauty, and studied organ with Francesco Milleville, a Ferrarese who became organist of Voltera. In 1694 he became organist and cantor of the Congregation of St. Cecilia. He was appointed organist of Santa Maria, Trastevere, Rome, in January 1607, but left in June for a year in the Netherlands.

At Antwerp Frescobaldi published his first volume of five-part madrigals (Phalese 1608) and returned to Italy, where he published his second book of four-voice fantasies in Milan (1608). In November 1608 he was appointed organist at St. Peter's, Rome, where, according to G. Baini, 30,000 persons came to hear his first performance. Dissatisfied with the pay, he took a leave of absence

in 1628, to be organist to Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Florence. Because of political upheaval, he left Florence in April 1634 and was directly reinstated at St. Peter's, where he played until his death. Some records mention him as organist of S. Lorenzo in Montibus during his last year. J. J. froberger was his pupil from September 1637 to April 1641 and handed down his method, spreading it to Germany.

His music is remarkable for its high intelligence and artistic taste. All his extraordinary talents are combined in one work, the Ricercare con obligo di cantare la quinta parte senza toccarla, from the Messa della Madonna, of the Fiori Musicali. Here it is provided that a fifth part, a theme of six notes, may be superimposed over the four manual parts, presumably to be sung by the player. The realization by Guilmant has been reprinted by Bonnet and others. Although best known for his organ works, he composed a comparable number of choral and instrumental pieces. Transcriptions of his better-known instrumental works have been made by B. Bartók, O. respighi, and several other composers.

Bibliography: Orgelund Klavierwerke, ed. p. pidoux, 5 v. (Kassel 1950–54); Fiori musicali, in Les Grands maítres anciens de l'orgue, ed. j. bonnet and a. guilmant (Paris 1922) v. 1, with biog. by a. guilmant; Fiori musicali, ed. f. germani (Rome 1936); Ausgewählte Orgelwerke, ed. h. keller, 2 v. (Leipzig-New York 1943). a. machabey, Gerolamo Frescobaldi Ferrarensis (Paris 1952). h. f. redlich, "G. F.," Music Review 14 (1953) 262–274. m. reimann, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. f. blume (Kassel-Basel 1949–) 4:912–926. f. gehring, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. e. blom, 9 v. (5th ed. London 1954) 3:494. m. f. bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York 1947). p. h. lÁng, Music in Western Civilization (New York 1941). c. annibaldi, "Palestrina and Frescobaldi: Discovering a Missing Link," Music and Letters 79 (1998) 329–345. n. j. barker, "Analytical Issues in the Toccatas of Girolamo Frescobaldi" (Ph.D. diss. Cornell University 1995). i. godt, "Frescobaldi's Viol? An Unsolved Mystery," Consort 46 (1990) 10–15. f. hammond, "The Influence of Girolamo Frescobaldi on French Keyboard Music," Recercare (1991) 147–167. f. krummacher, "Phantastik und Kontrapunkt: Zur Kompositionsart Frescobaldis," Die Musikforschung 48 (1995) 1–14. a. newcomb, "Girolamo Frescobaldi" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. s. sadie, v. 6 (New York 1980) 824–835.

[l. sears]