Folk Inspiration in Organ Music

Folk Inspiration in 16th and 17th Century Organ Music

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Renaissance and Baroque: Dance and Popular Inspiration in Organ Music

In past centuries, classical music, dance, and popular traditions were closely connected and often influenced one another in productive ways.
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Keyboard music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods is especially linked to dance. Dance tunes were based on clear rhythmic and harmonic patterns, typical of dances such as the pavane, galliard, courante, and saltarello.

Alongside courtly dances, there were also models of more popular origin, known as “tenors.” These were melodic and harmonic patterns inspired by popular music—such as the Passamezzo antico, the Romanesca, the Ruggero, and the Folia. They were used as the basis for compositions and improvisations. These repeating patterns, often built on a steady bass line, were widely used and created a strong connection between learned music and popular tradition.
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The program begins in southern Italy with two pieces by Valente (Naples, 1576), preceded by the Intrata d’Organo by De Macque. Lo Ballo dell’Intorcia is a lively dance, similar to a passamezzo antico, performed by dancers passing a torch between them. La Romanesca is a repeating bass pattern of Spanish origin. Next are variations by the Spanish composer Cabezón on El canto llano del Cavallero, a popular song (villancico) telling the story of a lady promising loyalty to her knight.
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The Pavana Lachrimae by John Dowland is a slow and serious dance, also known as Flow, my tears. It has a sad melody and was reworked by many composers, including Sweelinck, whose version is played here. The Balletto del Granduca comes from the Aria di Fiorenza (1589) by Emilio de’ Cavalieri. It was very popular, and Sweelinck’s version has four variations.
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The cuckoo sound was often used as a musical joke in the Baroque period. Frescobaldi’s Capriccio sopra il Cucco shows his great skill and is made of different sections.

The melody La Monica tells the story of a young woman who does not want to become a nun (“Mother, don’t make me a nun”). It was very popular in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. In France it was called Chant de la nonnette, and in Germany Ich ging einmal spazieren. It was also used in sacred music, becoming the Noël Une vierge pucelle and the chorale Von Gott will ich nicht lassen. The piece Le Moniche in this program, followed by two verses by Leyding, shows how this melody changed over time.

In Frescobaldi’s Capriccio sopra l’aria di Ruggero, the composer combines the Ruggero pattern with the popular melody Fra Jacopino, an old song linked to religious pilgrimages.
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Finally, the program ends with the Ciacona by Muffat and the Passacaglia by Fischer. Both dances have Spanish origins and are usually in triple time. Their music is built on repeating bass patterns with many variations. Very popular in the Baroque period, these forms were used by major composers such as Corelli, Couperin, Handel, and Bach, who created masterpieces that are still admired today.

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Massimiliano Raschietti

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