The Early Music Podcast: Girolamo Frescobaldi

When you look at music from the past, you have to look for information everywhere you can, and get creative also in finding new sources: music scores are useful, but what about music treatises, concert reports from spectators, epistolary exchanges?... they offer a valuable insight into the way these works were played. 

Harpsichordist Francesco Corti, our first guest for this third season, explains the unique relationship between the written word and the music, and the room for improvisation in the performance of compositions: recreating a whole aesthetic from centuries ago is much more than reading a score! For this, he invokes the prolific Italian composer, harpsichordist and organist Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), with whose works the keyboard music of the Renaissance peaks before opera becomes the newest trend. 

CREDITS

guest Francesco Corti, harpsicordist and conductor

interview & editing Andrew Burn

production REMA

Platée, Act 1, Orage - Jean-Philippe Rameau

performed by Les Talens Lyriques, dir. Christophe Rousset
Camera Lucida 2014
All rights reserved - Courtesy of Les Talens Lyriques

design Doretta Rinaldi
original drawings Vincent Flückiger

cover score Folio, Harpsichord pieces, 1607-1637 (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, FRBNF14792481)

Primo Libro di Toccate: Partite sopra La Monica, Toccate, canzone, versi d'hinni, Magnificat, gagliarde, correnti &Toccata nona, "Non senza fatiga si giunge al fine” - Girolamo Frescobaldi

performed by Lambert Colson, Alice Foccroulle, Bernard Foccroulle

Organ Works, Ricercar 2017