- Toccata
Toccata (from Italian "toccare", "to touch") is a
virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard orplucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or withoutimitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments (the opening ofClaudio Monteverdi 's opera "Orfeo " being a notable example).History
Renaissance
The form first appeared in the late Renaissance period. It originated in northern Italy. Several publications of the
1590s include toccatas, by composers such asGirolamo Diruta ,Adriano Banchieri ,Claudio Merulo , Andrea andGiovanni Gabrieli ,Luzzasco Luzzaschi and others. These are keyboard compositions in which one hand, and then the other, performs virtuosic runs and brilliant cascading passages against a chordal accompaniment in the other hand. Among the composers working in Venice at this time was the youngHans Leo Hassler , who studied with the Gabrielis; he brought the form back with him to Germany. It was in Germany where it underwent its highest development, culminating in the work ofJohann Sebastian Bach more than a hundred years later.Baroque
The Baroque toccata, beginning with
Girolamo Frescobaldi , is more sectional and increases in length, intensity and virtuosity from the Renaissance version, reaching heights of extravagance equivalent to the overwhelming detail seen in the architecture of the period. Often it features rapid runs andarpeggio s alternating with chordal or fugal parts. Sometimes there is a lack of regular tempo, and almost always animprovisation al feel.Other Baroque composers of toccatas, in the period before Bach, include
Johann Pachelbel ,Michelangelo Rossi ,Johann Jakob Froberger ,Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ,Alessandro Scarlatti andDieterich Buxtehude . Bach's toccatas are among the most famous examples of the form, and hisToccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 is one of the most popular organ works today, although its authorship is disputed by some authorities ["BWV 565: a toccata in D minor for organ by J. S. Bach?", "Early Music", vol. 9, July, 1981, pp. 330-337. ] . His toccatas for organ are brilliant improvisatory compositions, and are often followed by an independentfugue movement. In such cases the toccata is used in place of the usually more stable prelude. Bach's toccatas for harpsichord are multi-sectional works which include fugal writing as part of their structure.Post baroque
Beyond the Baroque period, toccatas are found less frequently. There are a few notable examples, however. From the Romantic period
Robert Schumann andFranz Liszt each wrote a piano toccata - the ambitious Schumann piece being considered one of the most technically difficult works in the repertoire and the foremost representative of the genre in the 1800s. The Liszt toccata is a very short and austere composition from his late period, and is practically a toccata only by name. From the early 20th century Prokofiev andAram Khachaturian each wrote a toccata for solopiano , as didMaurice Ravel as part of "Le Tombeau de Couperin " andClaude Debussy in his 'Suite: Pour le Piano'.Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote several toccatas for solo piano. The toccata form was of great importance in the French romantic organ school, something of whichJacques-Nicolas Lemmens laid the foundation with his "Fanfare". Toccatas in this style usually consist of rapid chord progressions combined with a powerful tune (often played in the pedal). The most famous examples are the ending movement ofCharles-Marie Widor 's "Symphony No. 5", and the Finale ofLouis Vierne 's "Symphony No. 1". More recently,John Rutter wrote "Toccata in 7", so called because of its unusual time signature. Toccatas occasionally make appearances in works for fullorchestra ; a notable example is the final movement of the Eighth Symphony ofRalph Vaughan Williams .Literature
Robert Browning used the motif or concept of a toccata byBaldassare Galuppi to evoke thoughts of human transience in his poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's " (although Galuppi did not actually write any piece with the name 'Toccata'). [cite news|title=Research regarding the fictional toccata by Galuppi of Browning's poem|publisher=The Musical Times |date=May 1, 1923|pages=314–316|author=Charles Van Den Borren]Media
ee also
*
Fugue
*Prelude (music)
*Sonata References
External links
* [http://www.virtuallybaroque.com/track780.htm Performance on a virtual organ of Toccata in F Major, BuxWV 157 by
Dietrich Buxtehude ]
* [http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem297.html Robert Browning, "A Toccata of Galuppi's" published 1855] e-text
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