Paul Wolfe (harpsichord) Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1644)
Released in 1957 by Experiences Anonymes, EA 0022. Recorded at Esoteric Sound Studios, N. Y. C. by Jerry Newman.
The harpsichord on this record is a Pleyel, and has two manuals and six pedals. The lower manual has an eight-foot stop, a four-foot stop, and a coupler; the upper, two eight·foot stops-one nasal-and the lute.

Side 1
00:00 00:58 02:39 1. THREE GAILLARDS (Nos. 1, 2 & 3)
04:05 2. PARTITE 12 SOPRA L’ARIA DI RUGGIERO
15:10 3 CANZONA SECONDA (1637)
18:34 4. PARTITE 6 SOPRA L’ARIA DI FOLLIA

Side 2
25:33 1. CANZONA QUARTA (1637)
27:04 29:30 31:38 32:39 2. FOUR CORRENTI
34:09 3. CANZONA PRIMA (1637)
38:03 4. PARTITE II SOPRA L’ARIA DI MONICHA

Frescobaldi is often considered one of the most original
innovators in the history of music; however, he, like all innovators,
did not originate all that has been credited to him.
This statement is in no way intended to detract from Frescobaldi’s
genius and originality, but is written to dispel any
remnant of the old, fallacious assumption that he, without a
trace of the past and absolutely solitarily, began to write
music in a new fashion. Musical characteristics of the Renaissance
in his music-though his music is certainly Baroque
. -are almost as numerous and easily discernible as arc his
departures from them. Particularly, many influences of the
Venetian school, a legacy from Luzzachi, are evident. Some
five or six years before Frescobaldi’s first publication, Trabaci
and Mayone published works which, in a more modest frame,
exhibit the techniques Frescobaldi embraced and, with his
truly divine imagination, exploited. His Canzoni are closely
related to those of Mayone and Trabaci, as are his Partite.
And in his Gagliardi and Corrente he adopted the uneven
phrase structure (4 and 5 bars or 4 and 3 bars rather than
the regular 4 bars) consistently used by Mayone and Trabaci.
But it matters little that he did not originate this new
style-the true value of Frescobaldi is that he devoted his
genius to the development of it.
In the prefaces of various volumes of his published works
Frescobaldi wrote the following rules for performing his
music :
from Toccate e Partite (1614)-
“1. To begin with, this mode of playing is not governed by .
strict time but rather by a flexible beat as one finds in
the performance of modern madrigals . . .
2. Concerning the toccatas … the sections are arranged
so that the performer may play only those which he
chooses to play, ending when he likes.
3. The opening sections of the Toccatas, and almost half of
each piece, should be played adagio and arpeggiando;
tied and slurred notes should be played similarly so that
the instrument will not sound empty. This, however,
must be left to the discretion of the performer.
4. The final note of a trill, of a succession of skips, or of
a scale, should be held regardless of its value. In this
fashion one avoids indis.tinct phrasing-and also different
passages will not be confused with each other.
5. Cadences should be sustained, though some are written
quick; when they end passages preparatory to a final
cadence, the tempo should retard.
6. If one hand has a trill and the other a scale, play the
trill rapidly-do not divide note for note.

7. If one hand plays a passage of eighth notes and the
other sixteenths, the sixteenth notes must be played
somewhat dotted, the second of each two sixteenths
receiving the dot.
8. If rapid scales occur simultaneously in both hands, one
must stop on the note preceding the scales and then resolutely
play them allowing finger dexterity tQ appear
greater.
9. In the Partite when one finds expressive passages and
ornaments the tempo should be rather slow and deliberate,
the same is true in the Toccatas. Other pieces may
be played somewhat faster at the discretion of the performer;
the perfection of this style of playing lies in the
tempo.”
and from Capricci e Canzoni (1624)-
“As these pieces may prove difficult to perform because of
the diverse tempi and changes of time, and variety of variations
. . . I will say that in those passages which seem written
in an unusual way the performer must attempt to understand
their musical sense and expression and to follow the
intention of the composer.

PAUL WOLFE, born in Waco, Texas, majored in music at the University of Texas, from which he received his Master’s Degree in 1950. Since then, he has studied piano with Webster Aitken, and harpsichord with Denise Restout. He has been on the faculty of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, and is now studying with Madame Wanda Landowska. Mr. Wolfe has appeared in concerts in many eastern universities and in New York City, and is a member of the New York Chamber Trio. This is his third record for Experiences Anonymes’ series devoted to early keyboard masters.

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