Tom Foster, Harpsichord
Performers
Tom Foster, Harpsichord
Program
ZACHOW Prelude and Fugue in F Major
FROBERGER Canzona in D Minor, FbWV 301
FROBERGER Partita in D Major, FbWV 611
HANDEL Suite in F Major, HWV 427
MATTHESON Sonata in G Major
HANDEL Chaconne in G Major, HWV 435
MUFFAT Suite No. 1 in C Major
HANDEL Suite No. 5 in E Major, HWV 430
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
Tom Foster’s overview of German Baroque keyboard music spans roughly a century, from Johann Jacob Froberger’s intricately contrapuntal Canzona in D Minor to Gottlieb Muffat’s breezy, Gallic-flavored Suite No. 1 in C Major. In contrast to Froberger, a progressive who bridged the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the stylistically conservative Muffat remained faithful to fugues, instrumental dance suites, and other forms characteristic of the early 18th century. Like Froberger, George Frideric Handel made a major contribution to the genre of the dance-based instrumental suite: His debut collection of harpsichord suites, in which the two examples on tonight’s program appeared, was a best-seller when it was published in 1720.
In addition to charting the development of the suite, Mr. Foster’s program illustrates the web of reciprocal influences that united German composers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, who taught Handel as a boy, helped shape both his mature style and that of J. S. Bach. Johann Mattheson emulated his close friend Handel in the operas, oratorios, and other sacred music he wrote as music director of Hamburg Cathedral. Handel “borrowed” (we might say stole) some of Muffat’s music for his own works, and the younger composer returned the compliment by hand-copying several of Handel’s harpsichord suites and adding French-style ornamentation.