Fantasien (1608), Canzoni alla Francese (1645)

The fantasias appeared in 1608. Frescobaldi dedicated this, his first published work, to his patron Francesco Borghese, who gave these fantasias special attention. Only one specimen of the original edition is now known; there are further two extant manuscript copies, one of them complete in the hand of Bernadino Pasquini. Though the pieces are printed 'in partitura', that is with each of the four parts on a separate stave, they are nonetheless intended by the composer for a keyboard instrument. Thanks to the reliability of the printed edition, the transcription into modern notation (on two staves) could be achieved without special difficulty. In one place, however, where neither the first edition nor Pasquini’s copy make Frescobaldi’s intentions sufficiently clear, the partitura is given as it is found in the model. The following are editorial additions: all accidentals printed small and off the stave, also the letters to denote the parts and the connecting strokes to elucidate the part-writing.