John Solari
Music of the Baroque Era
On the Fritts organ, 1992:

Nicolas Lebegue
Suite du deuxieme ton
I.
IL
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.

(1631-1702)

Prelude
Comet
Trio a deux dessus
Duo
Cromhome ou Tierce en Taille
Trio a trois Claviers
Dessus de Cromhome ou de Trompette
Dialogue
Plein Jeu

Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750)
Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543
On the Traeri organ, 1742:

Johann Jakob Froberger
(1616-1667)
Toccata quinta-Da sonarsi a/la Leviatione
Girolamo Frescobaldi
(1583-1643)
Libro II: Toccata sesta - Sopra i pedali, e senza
Michelangelo Rossi
Toccata settima

(1602-1656)

On the French double-manual Allan Winkler harpsichord, 1996:

Domenico Scarlatti
(1685-1757)
Keyboard Sonata in C, K.513 - Pastorale
Keyboard Sonata in D, K.480
Jean-Henry d' Anglebert
Suite du deuxieme ton
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VIL
VIII.

( 1629-1691)

Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Deuxieme courante
Sarabande
Gigue
Gaillarde
Passacaille

On the Fritts organ:

Nicolaus Bruhns
Praeludium in G major

( 1665-1697)

Many thanks to Paul Oftedahl for pulling stops and turning pages.

Nicolas Lebegue was an accomplished organist, composer,
and teacher of the French classical tradition. He is remembered
largely for his invention of the en Taille genre, in which a long
and expressive melodic line in the tenor voice is accompanied by
soft flutes above and below. The present suite is set in the second
church mode, similar to G minor; bookended by two stately Plein
Jeu movements, it showcases the diversity of registrations and
characters within the French tradition, including a lively solo
melody on the scintillating Comet, the aforementioned Cromhorne ou Tierce en Taille, and a Dialogue between two celebratory registrations on the reeds.

Perhaps the most well-known composer of the Baroque era,
Johann Sebastian Bach is famous for both his technical skill
as a keyboardist and his extremely varied and prolific career as a
composer. His Prelude and Fugue in A minor-composed during
his time in Weimar-begins with broken chords falling chromatically, which are continuously developed both as a solo line and in
imitation with the pedals. The subject of the fugue is long and
melodic, featuring a great deal of sequencing and broken chords
which recall the opening. After the fugue is a brief coda in the
North German "stylus phantasticus", or fantastic style, with a
burst of incredible virtuosity following an extensive pedal solo.
Johann Jakob Froberger was a German organist and student
of Frescobaldi, known for his contributions to the genres of keyboard suite and toccata. His toccata quinta is designated to be
played during the Elevation of the Host in the Catholic mass.
The overall character is one of amazement and mystery, with
many expressive soloistic lines and harmonic surprises.
Girolamo Frescobaldi, Froberger's teacher, was one of the
most influential composers of the early Baroque Italian style; the
preface to his first book of toccatas has proved an invaluable
source for understanding the performance practices of the time.
The present toccata is from his Libra II, and is subtitled "on the
pedals and without", in reference to the unusual pedal points
which form the structural skeleton of the work. Sections of ho-

mophony and stricter imitation are punctuated by virtuosic outbursts, foreshadowing the North German Praeludium form and
fantastic style to come.
Despite Michelangelo Rossi's fame as a virtuoso violinist, none
of his works for violin survive. His style relies primarily on the
surviving publications of his ten toccatas, of which toccata settima is the most audacious harmonically.
Though Italian, Domenico Scarlatti, spent much of his life in
Spain and Portugal, teaching the Portugese princess Maria Magdalena Barbara to play the harpsichord. His keyboard sonatas
number over five hundred, and many of these are highly technical, suggesting that they were composed as part of Princess
Barbara's instruction. The first sonata in the set-subtitled Pastorate-is in a lilting triple meter separated into three sections
which get progressively faster. The second sonata, marked
"Presto", is charming and lighthearted, featuring quick scalar passagework and arpeggios which bound down the keyboard.
Jean-Henry d' Anglebert was a French harpsichordist and
composer, and is remembered for his 1684 publication Pieces de
clavecin, a collection of four suites. Unlike Lebegue, d' Anglebert
explicitly names his movements for Renaissance and Baroque
dances, and the opening Prelude is notated without rhythm.
Nicolaus Bruhns was a tragically short-lived but nonetheless
very well-regarded Danish-German organist. His Praeludium in
G major opens with ecstatic declarations of the major key in both
the hands and the pedals, contrasted by a lighter, fluttering motif.
The fugue subject is angular, with many repeated notes, and features two overlapping entries in the pedals. There ensues an intermediary section, which resembles the opening, though with
greater harmonic uncertainty. The fugue returns, transformed
into triple meter, leading to a cadence on the dominant. A final
pedal solo marks the beginning of the last section, cadencing with
triumphant figuration on the tonic.