Fiori musicali

Fiori musicali ("Musical Flowers") is a collection of liturgical organ music by Girolamo Frescobaldi, first published in 1635. It contains three organ masses and two secular capriccios. Generally acknowledged as one of Frescobaldi's best works, Fiori musicali influenced composers during at least two centuries. Johann Sebastian Bach was among its admirers, and parts of it were included in the celebrated Gradus ad parnassum, a highly influential 1725 treatise by Johann Joseph Fux which was in use even in the 19th century.

Fiori musicali was first published in Venice in 1635, when Frescobaldi was working as organist of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, under the patronage of Pope Urban VIII and his nephew Cardinal Francesco Barberini. It may have been conceived as music for St Mark's Basilica or a similarly important church. The collection was printed by Giacomo Vincenti (a celebrated publisher who had previously published reprints of Frescobaldi's capriccios), and dedicated to Cardinal Antonio Barberini, Francesco's younger brother. The full title of Frescobaldi's work is Fiori musicali di diverse compositioni, toccate, kyrie, canzoni, capricci, e recercari, in partitura. The fiori musicali bit was not uncommon in the early 17th century, used by composers such as Felice Anerio, Antonio Brunelli, Ercole Porta, Orazio Tarditi, and others.

Before Fiori musicali, Frescobaldi seldom published liturgical music. It appeared only once, in of 1627; all other keyboard collections by the master concentrated instead on various secular genres (canzonas, capriccios, toccatas, and variations). The organ mass was still in its infancy, and composers seldom published such music. Although 16th-century composers did work on liturgical music, the forms they used were a far cry from 17th-century works. Early 17th-century examples from Italy include Adriano Banchieri's 1622 edition of L'organo suonarino (1 mass) and Bernardino Bottazzi's Choro et organo of 1614 (3 masses and miscellaneous versets). in France, Jean Titelouze published collections of liturgical music in 1624 and 1626 (but the characteristic French Organ Mass did not appear until much later). After Frescobaldi, however, several collections appeared: Giovanni Salvatore's Ricercari [...] e versi per rispondere nelle messe (1641), Antonio Croci's Frutti musicali (1642), and Giovanni Battista Fasolo's Annuale (1645)—all these contain three masses each, similar to Frescobaldi's.

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