Frescobaldi, Se l’aura spira tutta vezzosa

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) is described in The New Grove* as “the most influential keyboard composer of the first half of the 17th century” whose mature works “are among the most moving and distinctive statements of the early Baroque spirit in Italy.”

Born in the northern Italian city of Ferrara, Frescobaldi’s father was an organist of some distinction. Frescobaldi studied organ with the court organist, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, who was known as one of the most prominent composers for organ and who had a significant influence also on Gesualdo (see Friday Performance Pick 165). Gesualdo spent significant time in Ferrara during Frescobaldi’s formative years.

Ferrara had flourished under Duke Ercole I d’Este (1431-1505), a prominent patron of the arts, and become an important musical center. That continued until the death of Duke Alfonso II d’Este in 1597, during Frescobaldi’s teen years. Alfonso died without an heir and Ferrara began to decline. By 1607 held the post of organist at Santa Maria in Trastevere (Rome). One year later, he was appointed organist at St. Peter’s in Rome, an position that he held throughout the rest of his life.

Frescobaldi is remembered primarily for his keyboard works. (In music history class, we encountered him primarily as a composer of ricecare, a precursor of the fugue.) But he was also prominent as a composer of madrigals, the most important form of secular vocal works of the time. Italian in origin, the madrigal had spread throughout Europe and to England. Frescobaldi was no doubt influenced by prominent madrigal composers Luzzaschi and Gesualdo, among others.

Se l’aura spira tutta vezzosa (“If the breezes blow ever charming”) is a mature work published in 1630. You can find the English translation here.

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*The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an authoritative source of information, particularly useful for its articles on composers and individual styles and forms. I cite it here from time to time, but I suspect many of our readers may not be not familiar with it.