This article is about what is toccata. It will consider the history of the development of this genre. The names of the composers in whose work the toccats are clearly represented will also be given.
Original Italian music
To answer the question of what is toccata, you need to turn, first of all, to the art of the Renaissance. Then the works written in the newly appeared genre of opera usually had a small introductory part.
This section, as a rule, was composed in the form of a bravura, fanfare work. The main distinguishing feature of such music was the loud beats of the timpani, urging people to attend theatrical performances. Many scholars are inclined to believe that this circumstance gave the name to the genre. Their assumption seems plausible, because from Italian "toccata" translates exactly as a "blow".
An example of such an introduction to the opera is a musical fragment preceding the famous work of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, "Orpheus." This artist is known for being the "father" of Italian opera. But some researchers consider him also the creator of an ancient toccata.
Parent of Keyboard Music
A little later appeared toccata of a different type. These were works of improvisational nature. The performance of such compositions required instrumentalists of great virtuosity. So, if you want to define toccata in music, then it can be formulated as follows. This is a small instrumental piece for keyboards or strings, usually a homophonic warehouse. But, unlike Renaissance genres such as Reachercar and Chaconne, these compositions were usually not transpositions of popular songs.
This music was most often composed specifically for one instrument or another and quite fully revealed its capabilities and features of the modern game technique at that time. As a rule, such tokkats were written for the organ, although works of a similar kind created for the lute are also known.
The first samples of toccat, which were recorded using musical notes, belong to the Italian composer Francesco da Milano. This Renaissance musician has created a number of works of this genre. Almost all of his tokkats are written for the lute.
Toccata in the church
By the time of the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque style, this genre was almost completely dominated by keyboard musical instruments: organ and harpsichord. Now they were performed during Catholic masses.
Therefore, the definition of what is toccata in Baroque music can be formulated as follows. Initially, these were works that were used as an introduction to church services in the Catholic tradition. It was then that the first fugues and motets began to appear, which were also performed on the eve of the Mass. Typically, toccata served as the introduction to this work.
The art of improvisation
Toccats were not always forgotten by musicians. On the contrary, most often in the 14-15 centuries these instrumental introductions to the fugues and motets were played impromptu. That is, the virtuoso performer fully composed the entire play from beginning to end directly during the performance.
If you want to give a brief definition of what toccata is in music, it is better, first of all, to say specifically about the improvisational nature of this genre. The answer may be as follows. This is a piece of music of improvisational nature and free form, often used as an introduction to larger works.
Gain independence
As already mentioned, toccata at the beginning of their existence had a purely applied meaning, that is, they were not performed outside the walls of the temple. Revolutionary in this sense was the work of the Italian composer Frescobaldi.
For the first time in history, he began to write works of this genre for concert performance at social events. It belongs to him the right to be called the creator of the first musical cycles. The earliest examples of such a series consisted of toccata and a fugue or motet, united under the same cover of a music publication.
Crossing State Borders
One of the first composers who became interested in this musical genre outside of Italy was the German organist Buxtehude. It was his writings that inspired the young Johann Sebastian Bach to create his immortal music. Buxtehude also introduced some innovations in the form and texture of works of this type. Before him, all the toccates were only a homophonic warehouse. He began to introduce elements of polyphony into his own works of this genre.
King of Toccats
Of course, the genre reached the highest point of development in the work of the great German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
His tokkats, originally written, like the works of his predecessors, as introductions to other musical opuses, were so perfect and had such a force of emotional influence on the listeners that subsequently they were often performed as independent numbers. It is from Bach's music that many music lovers judge what toccata is.
The most famous work of this genre
Toccata and the Fugue in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach are undeniably familiar to almost every inhabitant of planet Earth. Even those people who, it would seem, are not interested in classical music, no doubt heard this masterpiece in screensavers or call signs of various television and radio programs. Russian viewers are familiar with this work on the program "Man and the Law."
In the 19th century there was a rethinking of what toccata is in music. In this era, the genre gains full independence. The largest composers begin to create toccats as independent works. Works of this genre written by Schumann and Mendelssohn gained wide popularity. In the 20th century, Rodion Shchedrin and Dmitry Shostakovich turned to this kind of music.