Johann Jacob Froberger was the son of Basilius Froberger, director of music at the Court of Wurtemberg in Stuttgart. As a young man Froberger studied under Girolamo Frescobaldi. As a master of the organ and harpsichord, his musical life centered around Vienna (particularly in the service of Emperor Ferdinand III). His work is almost entirely devoted to keyboard instruments whereby he covers every genre of contemporary custom: the polyphonic fantasia, ricercar, canzona, capriccio, the toccata in stylus fantasticus and the dance suite.

Since the rediscovery of Froberger's music around 100 years ago, it has been the Suites which have received the widest interest. Of some thirty harpsichord suites by the composer, six are in the Libro Secondo of 1649 and the same amount in the Libro Quarto of 1656. The remaining dance suites have been handed down in scattered copies and posthumous prints.

When in the summer of 1999 it was made public that part of the archive of the Singakademie of Berlin, evacuated to Silesia during World War II and consequently missing, had been recovered in Kiev it could hardly have been guessed that works by Froberger would also be found among its contents. Alongside old prints and Froberger manuscripts would be found a 76-page manuscript in large quarto format, containing 6 toccatas, 13 suite and 12 laments. We are dealing here with a selection of the composer's best works, but often accompanied by extensive "improvements" or annotations by others which corrupted the composer's original intentions.

For this series, renowned Netherlands performer and musicologist Bob van Asperen, has chosen those pieces which seem to have suffered the most from these 'creative' copyists and music engravers, and restored them in a proper manner. In this Froberger Edition of recordings, he has made it his goal to give a complete rendering of the wonderful work of this composer on a variety of historical musical instruments.

Musicians:
Bob van Asperen, harpsichord

Selections:
Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667)
Works from the Kortkamp Manuscript of the Berliner Singakademie
1. Toccata II in d minor
2.-7. Suite 27 in E minor
8.-12. Suite 30 in A minor
13.-16. Suite 20 in D major
17.-18. Tombeau
19.-22. Suite in A minor
23.-27. Suite G major
28. Lamentation

Total Time: 74:35