Vincent Bernhardt, organ (France)

This programme is dedicated to the legacy of Palestrina. The influence of this musician, a central figure in Renaissance polyphonic music, was not limited to the ‘Roman school’ (which included Ruggero Giovanello, Girolamo Frescobaldi and Michelangelo Rossi), but influenced most composers of the late 16th and 17th centuries. His Italian contemporaries were of course greatly influenced by the master of Rome, but his influence can be felt far beyond the Alps: in Spain, the art of counterpoint was taken to new heights by Francisco Corrêa de Araujo, while in Amsterdam, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck used counterpoint as the foundation of an organ school that would bear fruit in Germany and influence composers as late as Johann Sesbastian Bach.

It may seem surprising to find a solo organ programme built around Palestrina, a composer who wrote almost exclusively for the voice and seems to have written nothing for the organ: only eight Ricercares are dedicated to the organ in the composer's catalogue, and it is possible that they were not written by himself but by a relative or pupil. However, the organ is essentially a polyphonic instrument, and its development in the late Renaissance was greatly influenced by vocal music, which organists used as a model and tried to imitate on the organ. It is therefore only natural that Palestrina had an indirect – but very strong – influence on organ music.

Some musicians of the early Baroque period, however, opposed Palestrina's style and proposed a different musical approach – a ‘seconda prattica’, as Monteverdi called it. Among them, Frescobaldi and his pupil Michelangelo Rossi incorporated Palestrina's counterpoint but developed a completely different style of music based on movement, the circulation of energy and the search for dissonance. Louis Couperin's astonishing ‘Fantaisie Duretez’ also bears witness to this Italian influence on French music. This programme therefore also presents this aspect of Palestrina's legacy, which served as a catalyst for the birth of Baroque music.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) Ricercar primo tono 

(Authorship doubtful) From Ricercari sopra li tuoni, s.d.

Ruggero Giovanello (1560-1625) Bella d'amor 

From Canzonetten und Madrigalien mit 4 Stimmen, 1606 

Transcribed for organ by Bernhard Schmidt 

Girolamo Cavazzoni (c. 1525-1575) Canzon sopra 'Il est bel et bon' 

Louis Couperin (1626-1661) Fantaisie Duretez (1650)

Giovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaRicercar terzo tono 

(Authorship doubtful) From Ricercari sopra li tuoni, s.d.

Michelangelo Rossi (c. 1600-1656) Toccata terza 

From Toccate e Correnti d'Intavolatura d'Organo e Cembalo, 1657

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Sicut cervus, PdPWV Mot183 

In organ tablature

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) Capriccio sopra l'aria 'Or chè noi rimena' in partite, F 4.07

From Il primo libro di capricci, 1624

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) Fantasia cromatica, SwWV 258

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Ricercar quarto tono 

(Authorship doubtful) From Ricercari sopra li tuoni, s.d.

Francisco Corrêa de Araujo (1584-1654) Segundo tiento de quarto tono a modo de canción 

From Facultad organica, 1626

Girolamo Cavazzoni Canzon sopra 'Falt d'argens'

Michelangelo Rossi  Settima Toccata 

From Toccate e Correnti d'Intavolatura d'Organo e Cembalo, 1657