15 Ricercari

Historical context

Frescobaldi’s compositions include the ‘Ricercari e canzoni franoesi’, which were published in Rome by Borboni in 1615. As described in a book, these Ricercari are full of augmentations, diminutions, inversions, and other contrivances, demonstrating a quality of being “rechercMs” or “full of research.”

The historical record shows that Frescobaldi’s Ricercari were later copied out in one of Dr. Burney’s note-books, specifically Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 11,588, as noted in a book.

Drawn from George Grove; J. A. Fuller-Maitland (ed.), Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.), Vol. 4 (1908); George Grove; J. A. Fuller-Maitland (ed.), Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.), Vol. 2 (1906); George Grove (ed.), A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A.D. 1450-1880), Vol. 3 (1883) — public domain, archive.org.