The Frescobaldi Thematic Catalogue Online

Spiridion (1670-1677)

Full Title: Spiridionis a Monte Carmelo, Nova Instructio Pro Pulsandis Organis, Spinettis, Manuchordiis, Etc. Pars Prima (Bamberg: Johann Jacom Immel, 1670); Pars secunda (Bamberg: Johann Georg Seüffert, 1671); Pars Tertia & Quarta (Würzburg: J. Sallver, ca. 1675-77)

Provenance and Date: Bamberg and Würzburg, c. 1671-1677. See Full Citation.
Time Frame: 1650-1700

Notes: Only Pars prima and Pars secunda survive as prints. However, an apparently reliable MS copy of all four volumes survives in Dresden (Sächsischen Landesbibliothek MB 4o 217); see Lamott 1980, 30-31. The treatise includes the complete text of a number of compositions from Toccate I (1637), Toccate II, (1627) and Canzoni (1645)–included in a Adjunctum Frescobaldicum, or identified with the initials HF–as well as well as numerous brief, unattributed excerpts from those publications as examples of cadentie and passaggie. Lamott (1980) believes that all the Frescobaldi excerpts are based on the composer’s publications, even if they are sometimes altered and simplified, and that is the point of view followed here. Darbellay (1988) thinks that they derive from a manuscript transmission independent of the prints. Only a single composition, included in the Adjunctum Frescobaldicum, the Balletto 3, does not derive from the publications, and its attribution is considered doubtful.

+- Compositions in Source

F 16.71 Balletto 3
Composer: Frescobaldi (doubtful)
Key/Signature: C /♮
Scoring: Keyboard
[Full Record]

+- Canonical Publications

CANZONI (1645)
Notes: The CANZONI (1645) were published posthumously, and in his preface, the publisher Alessandro Vincenti states that he obtained the pieces only after the composer’s death. He designated the volume as Libro IV, perhaps thinking of the Recercari et canzoni of 1615 and the ensemble canzoni published in 1628 and 1634. Some have questioned the connection between Frescobaldi and these canzonas because of a number of anomalous features [Silbiger (1980-1), 188-189], but most scholars accept them as authentic.
[Full Record]

TOCCATE I (1615-1637)
Notes: The two volumes of TOCCATE were widely distributed and often copied. Their composition and publication histories are, however, complex and confusing. Some of the reported “editions” are merely reprints with a new or updated title page. On the other hand, surviving exemplars of a single edition are not always identical. The following three editions of TOCCATE I are considered distinct sources because of significant differences in their content, as shown here after their short titles: Toccate I (1615): F 2.01 to F 2.12 and F 2.35 to F 2.37, Toccate I (1616): F 2.01 to F. 2.20, Toccate I (1637): F 2.01 to F 2.34. A second edition was issued in 1618 and a third one in 1628, but their content does not differ from the edition of 1616. More details in the cited references, particularly in Darbellay (1988), Hammond (1983) and (2002), Silbiger (2014) and in the critical commentary to the Stembridge 1.2 edition.
[Full Record]

TOCCATE II (1627-1637)
Notes: See the Notes on TOCCATE I.(1615-1637).The following two editions of Toccate II are considered distinct sources here because of differences in their content, as shown below: Toccate II (1627): F 3.01 to 3.40, Toccate II (1637): F 3.02 to 3.38. (F 3.39 and F 3.40 were removed.)
[Full Record]

+- Literature

Hammond (2020)
Hammond, Frederick. Girolamo Frescobaldi: An Extended Biography. http://girolamofrescobaldi.com, updated 1/2020.
Date Published: 2020
Pages: 95-96
[Full Record]

+- Modern Editions

Bellotti
Spiridionis a Monte Carmelo. Nova instructio pro pulsandis organis, spinettis, manuchordiis, E\etc. Pars prima (Bamberg 1670); Pars secunda (Bamberg 1671), ed. Edoardo Bellotti. Tastature: Musiche intavolate per strumenti da tasto 11. Colledara: Andromeda Editrice, 2003.
Date Published: 2003
[Full Record]

Lamott
Lamott, Bruce Alan. "Keyboard Improvisation According to ‘Nova Instruction Pro Pulsandis Organis’” (1670-Ca. 1675) by Spiridion a Monte Carmelo." Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 1980.
Date Published: 1980
[Full Record]