Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the musical form of the suite of dances in his keyboard works. His harpsichord pieces are highly idiomatic and programmatic.
Only two of Froberger's many compositions were published during his lifetime. Froberger forbade publication of his manuscripts, restricting access to his noble patrons and friends, particularly the Württembergs and Habsburgs who had the power to enforce these restrictions. After his death the manuscripts went to his patroness Sibylla, Duchess of Württemberg and the music library of the Württemberg family estate.
Life
1616–1634: Early years in Stuttgart
Johann Jakob Froberger was baptized on 19 May 1616 in Stuttgart. The exact date of his birth is unknown. His family came from Halle, where his grandfather Simon lived and his father Basilius was born. In 1599 Basilius moved to Stuttgart and became a tenor in the Württemberg court chapel. At some point before 1605 he married Anna Schmid, who came from a Schwabian family living in Stuttgart. By the time Johann Jakob was born, his father's career was already flourishing, and in 1621 Basilius became court Kapellmeister. Of his eleven children with Anna, four became musicians, and so it is likely that Johann Jakob received his first music lessons from his father.Although the Thirty Years' War which started in 1618 undoubtedly made life in Stuttgart somewhat more difficult, the city's musical life was rich and varied, influenced by musicians from all over Europe, so already at the very beginning of his life Froberger must have been exposed to a wide variety of musical traditions. Little is known about his actual education, though. His teachers possibly included Johann Ulrich Steigleder, and he may have met Samuel Scheidt during the latter's visit to Stuttgart in 1627. It is possible that Froberger sang in the court chapel, but there is no direct evidence thereof. Court archives indicate that one of the English lutenists employed by the court, Andrew Borell, taught lute to one of Basilius Froberger's sons in 1621–22 – it is not known whether this son was Johann Jakob, but if so, it would explain his later interest in French lute music.
Basilius Froberger's music library probably also helped in Johann Jakob's education. It contained more than a hundred volumes of music, including works by Josquin des Prez, Samuel Scheidt and Michael Praetorius, as well as pieces by the lesser known Johann Staden, founder of the Nuremberg school, and Giovanni Valentini, the then-famous Viennese Kapellmeister who later taught Johann Kaspar Kerll.
1634–1649: Court service in Vienna and voyages to Italy
The Hofkapelle Stuttgart was disbanded in 1634 in the wake of the Protestants' defeat in the Battle of Nördlingen. In Grundlage einer Ehrenpforte Mattheson writes that a certain Swedish ambassador was so impressed with Froberger's musical skills that he took the 18-year-old musician to Vienna and presumably recommended him to the imperial court. This seems unlikely, however, because at the time Sweden was allied with Lutheran Württemberg against the imperial forces; so exactly why Froberger left for Vienna at around 1634 and how he managed to find employment as a singer in the imperial chapel, remains a mystery.In 1637 Basilius Froberger, his wife and one of his daughters died of plague. Johann Jakob and his brother Isaac sold their father's music library to the Württemberg court ; the same year Johann Jakob became court organist in Vienna, assisting Wolfgang Ebner. In June he was granted a leave and a stipend to go to Rome to study under Frescobaldi. Froberger spent the next three years in Italy and, like many other musicians who went to study there, apparently converted to Catholicism. He returned to Vienna in 1641 and served as organist and chamber musician until the fall of 1645, when he took a second trip to Italy. It was previously thought that Froberger went to study under Giacomo Carissimi, but recent research shows that he most probably studied with Athanasius Kircher in Rome. If so, Froberger's intention must have been acquiring mastery of vocal composition of the prima pratica. Sometime during 1648–49 Froberger might have met Johann Kaspar Kerll, and possibly taught him.
In 1649 Froberger travelled back to Austria. On his way back he stopped in Florence and Mantua to show the arca musurgica, a powerful compositional device Kircher taught him, to some of the Italian princes. In September he arrived in Vienna and demonstrated the arca musurgica to the Emperor, an avid amateur musician; he also presented him with Libro Secondo, a collection of his own compositions. Also in September, Froberger played before William Swann, an English diplomat. Through Swann he got to know Constantijn Huygens, who became Froberger's lifelong friend and introduced the composer to works by contemporary French masters – Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, Denis Gaultier and Ennemond Gaultier.
1649–1653: Years of travels
Following the Empress Maria Leopoldine's death in August the court's musical activities were suspended. Froberger left the city and travelled widely for the next four years, likely entrusted by the Emperor with some extra-musical duties in the fields of diplomacy and possibly espionage. Not much is known about these voyages. Dresden was probably one of the first cities Froberger visited: he played before the electoral court of John George I and presented the Elector with a collection of his works. He also met Matthias Weckmann while in Dresden, and this encounter turned to another lifelong friendship; the two continued to exchange letters and Froberger even sent some of his music to Weckmann to illustrate his style. According to a pupil, after Dresden Froberger visited Cologne, Düsseldorf, Zeeland, Brabant and Antwerp; we also know that he also visited Brussels at least two times, London and, most importantly, Paris.In Paris Froberger most probably became acquainted with many major French composers of the era, including Chambonnières, Louis Couperin, Denis Gaultier and possibly François Dufault. The latter two were famous lutenists writing in the characteristic French idiom of style brisé, which influenced Froberger's later harpsichord suites. In turn, Louis Couperin was profoundly influenced by Froberger's style; one of his unmeasured preludes even bears the subtitle "à l'imitation de Mr. Froberger". In November 1652 Froberger witnessed the death of the famed lutenist Blancrocher. Although Blancrocher himself was not an important composer, his death left a mark on the history of music, as Couperin, Gaultier, Dufaut and Froberger all wrote tombeaux lamenting the event.
1653–1667: Last years in Vienna, retirement and death
In 1653 Froberger passed through Heidelberg, Nuremberg and Regensburg before returning to Vienna in April. He remained with the Viennese court during the next four years, producing at least one more collection of music, the Libro Quarto of 1656. Froberger was apparently deeply saddened by Emperor Ferdinand III's death on 2 April 1657 and wrote a lamentation dedicated to the memory of the Emperor. His relationship with Ferdinand's successor, Leopold I, was strained for a number of political reasons, and on June 30, 1657 Froberger received his last salary as a member of the imperial chapel.Little is known about Froberger's last 10 years. Most of the information comes from the letter exchange between Constantijn Huygens and the dowager Duchess of Montbéliard, Sybilla. Since the death of her husband Léopold-Frédéric of Württemberg-Montbéliard in 1662 the Duchess lived in Héricourt, and Froberger became her music teacher at around the same time. He lived in Château d’Héricourt, the dower house of Duchess Sibylla. The Huygens-Sybilla letters indicate that in 1665 Froberger travelled to Mainz, where he performed at the court of the Elector-Archbishop of Mainz and met Huygens in person for the first time; and at a certain point in 1666 the composer had plans to return to the imperial court in Vienna. As far as is known, though, he never did, and lived in Héricourt until his death on 6 or 7 May 1667. Froberger apparently knew that he was going to die soon, as he made all necessary preparations a day before he died.
Works
General information
Only two compositions by Froberger were published during his lifetime: the Hexachord Fantasia, published by Kircher in 1650 in Rome, and a piece in François Roberday's Fugues et caprices. In addition to these, a comparatively large number of works are preserved in authenticated manuscripts. The three principal sources for Froberger's music are the following manuscripts:- Libro Secundo and Libro Quarto, two richly decorated volumes dedicated to Ferdinand III. Both were found in Vienna; the decorations and calligraphy are by Johann Friedrich Sautter, Froberger's friend from his Stuttgart years. Each book has four chapters and contains 24 pieces. Both include six toccatas and six suites; Libro Secundo adds 6 fantasias and 6 canzonas, whereas Libro Quarto instead has 6 ricercars and 6 capriccios.
- Libro di capricci e ricercate. 6 capriccios and 6 ricercars.
Two standard numbering systems are used to identify Froberger's works. These are:
- the numbers used in the early 20th century Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich series and the Guido Adler edition; commonly referred to as the DTÖ numbers or the Adler numbers. This catalogue has separate numbering for different genres, with pieces identified as Toccata No. 4, Ricercare No. 2, Suite No. 20, etc. The DTÖ contains a few compositions falsely attributed to Froberger, and some identical ones.
- FbWV numbers from the Siegbert Rampe catalogue compiled in the early 1990s. Rampe's catalogue is more complete and includes newly discovered pieces as well as pieces whose authorship is questioned. The Adler numbers are incorporated, for example all Toccatas are numbered 1xx, hence Adler Toccata No. 1 has the Rampe number FbWV 101. For more information, see List of compositions by Johann Jakob Froberger.