Frescobaldi, maestro di contrappunto: un nuovo autografo in un manoscritto della Biblioteca Vaticana

Abstract

The 56th fascicle in the bundle of heterogeneous manuscripts collected at the Vatican Library, the Chigi codex Q VIII 205-206, is entirely constituted of completely anonymous counterpoint exercises. Still it is immediately apparent that Frescobaldi is the teacher, since his characteristic handwriting is totally recognizable in most on the 44 pages of the manuscript. He corrects mistakes, both deleting and adding notes or marks, but also offering his own examples of composition in counterpoint for his student – whose identity remains uncertain.
This article examines the manuscript and attempts at retracing the lines of this teacher-pupil relationship and, more generally, the principles of counterpoint didactics in XVII century.