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• Trabaci: 3 Pieces (1603/1615)

Trabaci: 3 Pieces (1603/1615)

for 4 instruments.

Giovanni Maria Trabaci (c. 1575-1647) spent his entire career in Naples. After holding down a few minor posts he was appointed first organist at the court chapel of the Spanish viceroys in that city; in 1614 he succeeded Giovanni de Macque there as maestro di cappella, a position he held for the rest of his life. Although he composed a substantial amount of choral music, he is known these days mostly for his two collections of keyboard music, the Ricercate, canzone firancese, capricci, canti fermi, gagliarde, partite diverse, toccate, durezze e ligature, et un madrigale passagiato of 1603 and Il secondo libro de ricercate & altri varij capricci of 1615, both published in Naples. Both collections were printed in score form, and contain everything from idiomatic keyboard toccatas to contrapuntal ricercars. Much of the music is quite suitable for instrumental ensemble.
The first piece printed here, from Trabaci's II secondo libro, is another, yet another, setting of the old "La Spagna" melody, which by this time was, known as the "Tenor di Costanzo Festa", or simply as "R canto fermo". We have already included some of Festa's settings in the present series (EMI, 338 a 5, EMI, 353 a 3). Not surprisingly, the cantus firmus is the 37-bar version used by Festa, rather than the somewhat longer tenor melody found in 15th-century settings. Trabaci's setting is unusual in that it includes two parts M strict canon at the fourth (it is not clear why the canon is described in the title as being "senza regolal.
The second piece is a study in dissonance ("durezze" are dissonances, and "ligature" suspensions). This type of piece was a speciality of the-Neapolitan, school of organists (Macque, Trabaci, Mayone), and was later taken further by the Roman, Girolamo Frescobaldi. Such pieces were often used at special points in the Catholic mass, particularly for the elevation of the host. Although essentially a way of exploring exotic harmonies, some of these pieces still seem to be conceived contrapuntally; indeed the individual parts in the present piece, especially the bass part, are highly expressive; playing such lines, with the wonderful clashes they generate, is a great pleasure on a melody instrument. The third piece is somewhat similar, though if any-thing even more eager to explore "forbidden" chords. It is also one of the earliest pieces to indicate trills by the letter "t". Both these pieces are taken from Trabaci's 1603 print.
In this edition the original note values have been retained, giving the music a rather "white" appearance. These pieces will almost certainly work best with a slow semibreve pulse.