Sunday, October 28, 6.00 pm
Church and Convent of Santa Clara

Consonanze stravaganti – toccatas and madrigals of the Italian Baroque
Claudio Astronio, harpsichord and organ

In 1615 there occurred an important event in Italy which would change the history of keyboard music: in Rome there were published the two books of Toccate d’intavolatura di cimbalo et organo by Girolamo Frescobaldi, revised and published again in the same year, and, later, in 1637.

Obviously, the toccata was not new from the formal or stylistic point of view (one thinks of Claudio Merulo and the Neapolitans). The novelty was brought by what Fescobaldi wrote at the beginning of the work, before the musical part. What is surprising and what certainly represents an element of disruptive novelty is precisely the first announcement: “Primieramente non dee questo modo di sonar star soggetto a battuta...” (firstly, this style of playing must not be subject to the beat) and adds, “come ueggiamo usarsi ne i Madrigali moderni, i quali quantunque difficili si ageuolano per mezzo della battuta, portandola hor languida, hor veloce, e sostenendola etiandio in aria secondo i loro affetti, o senso delle parole.” (as we see done in modern madrigals which, as difficult as they may be, are relieved by means of the beat, sometimes being slower, sometimes fast and suspending it in the air according to its affects or the meaning of the words.) of course, the style to which this refers is the Monteverdian seconda prattica, in which words and music should meld together into an emotive but structural element called affetto. Not being subject to the beat means continuous contrast, change of affects, polyphonic and measured against free and virtuosic sections – all must be univocally fixed to the tempo during composition.

From this was born the idea of this programme. The first part, dedicated to the harpsichord, begins with a dance - the pazzamezzo – which, as such, as absolutely rhythmic and precise as regards tempo. This is in order to create a contrast with the pieces that follow: an intabulated madrigal – the famous Ancor che col partire by Cipriano di Rore, diminished and intabulated for keyboard by Andrea Gabrieli – and Frescobaldi with one of his most famous works – the 100 Partite sopra Passacagli – and finally a Toccata, chosen for its particular, dense texture of strong contrasts and virtuosic atmospheres, together with free and languid sections. The second part, played on the organ, concentrates on the Neapolitan school, the most important musical centre in Europe, especially at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century, which had always had extraordinary musical talents. Giovanni Macque, of Flemish origin, whose Intrada shows, in addition to the desire of non star soggetto a battuta, also the stravaganza and the search of effects – marvels typical of the Neapolitan school. Both the Toccata by Trabaci and the Toccata by Michelangelo Rossi (who, in turn lived in Rome as an opera composer and violinist), whose stravaganza seems to have no end, are part of this style. To conclude, a Neapolitan composer famed for composing various passacaglias and partitas, pieces written over a basso ostinato, which on the one hand demand a significant rhythmic stability, and on the other are replete with extravagances and contrasts. Thus, just as I began with a dance, I finish with another: the famous Ciaccona.

Claudio Astronio

HARPSICHORD

Giovanni Picchi (1571-1643)

¬ Pass’e mezzo

Andrea Gabrieli (1533-1585)

¬ Anchor che col partire

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)

¬ Cento partite sopra passacagli

¬ Toccata X
(Secondo libro di toccate, 1627)

ORGAN

Giovanni de Macque (1595-1665)

¬ Intrada d’organo

¬ Consonanze stravaganti

Michelangelo Rossi (1602-1656)

¬ Toccata settima

¬ Partite sopra la romanesca

Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575-1647)

¬ Toccata dell’ 8° tono

¬ Durezze e ligature

Bernardo Storace (1637-1707)

¬ Ciaccona

Participants

Notes about the organ

Church and Convent of Santa Clara, Funchal

The church of Santa Clara had acquired a small positive organ with Italo-Iberian characteristics in the 18th century. With the extinction of the religious orders and the subsequent sale of the congregation’s goods, the organ was also put up for sale, being purchased by a certain Romano de Santa Clara, who kept it in a wing of the dissolved convent. In 1921 he gave it to the fraternity of Santa Clara, so that it could once more be put to service in the worship of the church. In October 1923 the task of ‘repairing’ it was put in the hands of the musicians César R. Nascimento and Guilherme H. Lino, who completed the work in November of the following year.

Unused and badly damaged for many years, this instrument of considerable historical value underwent a major restoration by Dinarte Machado on the basis of proper criteria drawn from a knowledge of the organ-building practices of the instrument’s period. This was completed in 2001. The poor state of the instrument, completely disfigured, required a rigorous, in-depth study on which to base this restoration. Thus we see how from the outset Dinarte Machado went to considerable pains in the course of this restoration.

Manual (C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb-c’’’)
Principale (c#’-c’’’)
Ottava (4’)
Quintadecima (2´)
Decimanona (1 1/3´)
Vigesimaseconda e Trigesimasesta
Flauto 8’
Flauto 4’
Cornetto (c#’-c’’’)