Toccata

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Toccata (from Italian toccare, literally, "to touch") is a virtuoso piece of music typically for
a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise
virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing
the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple
instruments (the opening of Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo being a notable example).

Contents
[hide]

 1History
o 1.1Renaissance
o 1.2Baroque
o 1.3After the Baroque
 2Literature
 3References
 4External links

History[edit]
Renaissance[edit]
The form first appeared in the late Renaissance period. It originated in northern Italy. Several
publications of the 1590s include toccatas, by composers such as Claudio
Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Adriano Banchieri and Luzzasco Luzzaschi. These are
keyboard compositions in which one hand, and then the other, performs virtuosic runs and
brilliant cascading passages against a chordal accompaniment in the other hand. Among the
composers working in Venice at this time was the young Hans Leo Hassler, who studied with the
Gabrielis; he brought the form back with him to Germany. It was in Germany where it underwent
its highest development, culminating in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach more than a hundred
years later.
Baroque[edit]
Toccata and Fugue in D
Minor, BWV 565

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Composed by Johann
Sebastian Bach, performed
by organist Ashtar Moïra

Toccata in D major, BWV

912
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Composed by Johann
Sebastian Bach, performed
on a piano by Randolph
Hokanson

Toccata in E minor

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Composed by Johann
Pachelbel, performed on a
church organ
in Trubschachen,
Switzerland by Burghard
Fischer

Toccata in F major

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Composed by Johann
Pachelbel, performed on a
church organ in
Trubschachen, Switzerland
by Burghard Fischer

Toccata 3

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Composed by Girolamo
Frescobaldi, performed by
Sylvia Kind on a
harpsichord of the type used
by Wanda Landowska

Toccata 3

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Composed by Alessandro
Scarlatti, performed by
Sylvia Kind on a
harpsichord of the type used
by Wanda Landowska
 Problems playing these files? See media
help.

The Baroque toccata, beginning with Girolamo Frescobaldi, is more sectional and increased in
length, intensity and virtuosity from the Renaissance version, reaching heights of extravagance
equivalent to the overwhelming detail seen in the architecture of the period. Often it featured
rapid runs and arpeggios alternating with chordal or fugal parts. Sometimes there was a lack of
regular tempo, and almost always an improvisational feel.
Other Baroque composers of toccatas, in the period before Bach, include Johann
Pachelbel, Michelangelo Rossi, Johann Jakob Froberger, Jan Pieterszoon
Sweelinck, Alessandro Scarlatti and Dieterich Buxtehude.
Bach's toccatas are among the most famous examples of the form, and his Toccata and Fugue
in D minor, BWV 565 is one of the most popular organ works today, although its authorship is
disputed by some authorities.[1] His toccatas for organ are improvisatory compositions, and are
often followed by an independent fugue movement. In such cases the toccata is used in place of
the usually more stable prelude. Bach's toccatas for harpsichord are multi-sectional works which
include fugal writing as part of their structure.
After the Baroque[edit]
Beyond the Baroque period, toccatas are found less frequently. There are a few notable
examples, however. From the Romantic period Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt each wrote a
piano toccata - the ambitious Schumann piece being considered one of the most technically
difficult works in the repertoire and the foremost representative of the genre in the 1800s. The
Liszt toccata is a very short and austere composition from his late period, and is practically a
toccata only by name. Smaller-scale toccatas are sometimes called "toccatina": Liszt's
contemporary and well-known virtuoso in his day Charles-Valentin Alkan composed a brief
toccatina as his last published work (Op. 75).
From the early 20th century Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian each wrote a toccata for
solo piano, as did Maurice Ravel as part of Le Tombeau de Couperin, Claude Debussy in his
suite Pour le Piano and also "Jardins sous la pluie" (which is a toccata but not in name),
and York Bowen's Toccata Op. 155. Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote four toccatas for solo
piano,[2] while Moises Moleiro wrote two. George Enescu's Piano Suite No. 2, Op. 10, opens with
a toccata. The first movement of Benjamin Britten's Piano Concerto is a toccata, as is the first
movement of Nikolai Medtner's 2nd piano concerto. The toccata form was of great importance in
the French romantic organ school, something of which Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens laid the
foundation with his Fanfare. Toccatas in this style usually consist of rapid chord progressions
combined with a powerful tune (often played in the pedal). The most famous examples are the
ending movement of Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony No. 5, and the Finale of Louis
Vierne's Symphony No. 1. More recently, John Rutter wrote Toccata in 7, so called because of
its time signature. Toccatas occasionally make appearances in works for full orchestra; a notable
example is the final movement of the Eighth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams. As for
toccatas written for string instruments, the final movement of John Adams' Violin Concerto is
entitled "Toccare," a possible reference to the origins of the word toccata; and the first movement
(Schnelle halbe) of Paul Hindemith's fifth Kammermusik(a viola concerto) is written as a
toccata.[3] Another contemporary composer who has written many toccatas is Emma Lou
Diemer (b. 1927). In addition to several toccatas for organ, she has written three for piano (one,
written in 1979, is frequently played), one for flute chorus, one for violin and piano, one for solo
timpani and one for six mallet percussion. Russian jazz composer Nikolai Kapustin composed a
toccatina as part of his Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 40. The symphonic rock band Sky released an
arrangement of the J.S. Bach Toccata, BWV 565, on their album Sky 2, featuring
keyboardist Francis Monkman.

Literature[edit]
Robert Browning used the motif or concept of a toccata by Baldassare Galuppi to evoke thoughts
of human transience in his poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's" (although Galuppi did not actually write
any piece with the name 'Toccata').[4]

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ "BWV 565: a toccata in D minor for organ by J. S. Bach?", Early Music, vol. 9, July,
1981, pp. 330–337.
2. Jump up^ Roberge, Marc-André (25 September 2012). "Titles of Works Grouped by
Categories". Sorabji Resource Site. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
3. Jump up^ Kammermusik No. 5, for viola and orchestra, Op. 36, No. 4. About. Classical
Archives. [1]
4. Jump up^ Charles Van Den Borren (May 1, 1923). "Research regarding the fictional toccata by
Galuppi of Browning's poem". The Musical Times. pp. 314–316.