Quotes on Girolamo Frescobaldi from web:

… I am sending to Your Most Illustrious Lordship the [score of the] romanesca that you command me,
although I have refrained from showing it [the written score] to Signora Francesca, so that you might
hear it from her in the manner in which I desired it to be sung, since I always think that it is not easy to
show it to someone who does not have the practice of it well; for although it is a romanesca,
nonetheless I call it a bastard romanesca, since in many places it must be sung with affetto, and in others
with vocal tenute, accenti [an ornament] and other attentions, which cannot be written but require the
living voice [la viva voce].

In the [single] partite let a just and proportionate tempo be taken, and because in some [partite] there
are rapid passages one should begin with a comfortable [commoda] beat, for it is not proper to begin
rapidly and continue slowly…. (1615).

In the Partite when there will be found passaggi, and affetti it will be well to choose a broad [largo]
tempo: which is to be observed also in the toccatas. The other [partite] not having passaggi can be
played somewhat allegro in beat, referring the conduct of the tempo to the good taste and fine
judgment of the player; in which consist the spirit and the perfection of this manner and the style of
playing (1616).

First: that this manner of playing [toccatas] must not remain subject to a beat, as we see practiced in
modern Madrigals, which although difficult are facilitated by means of the beat taking it now slowly, now
rapidly, and even suspending it in the air, according to their affetti, or meaning of the words (1616).

In the Toccatas when you find some trills, or affettuoso passages play them adagio and in the eighths
follow in the parts together to make them somewhat allegro and in the trills let them be taken more
adagio slowing the beat although the toccatas must be played at the pleasure of the player according to
his taste (1635).

The beginnings of all the [Fiori] Toccatas although they may be in eighth-notes can be played adagio, and
then make them allegro according to their passi (1635).

In the Correnti, and Balletti, one must observe an allegro tempo, so that they appear of greater pleasure
and elegance. I understand the same in the Ciacconas, and Passacaglias…[12]

In the Kyries some can be played with a lively beat, & others with a slow beat [battuta lenta] as will
appear to the judgment of the player (1635).

In the toccatas I have taken care not only that they be full of varied passages, and of affetti: but that also
each one of these passages may be played separated the one from the other: whence the player without
the necessity of finishing them all will be able to end them where it will most please him … The
separation and conclusion of the sections will be when the consonance is found in both hands together
written in whole notes (1616).
It is proper to stop always on the last note of a trillo, and of other effetti, such as a leap or a step, even
though it be a sixteenth-note or a thirty-second (1615). In the last note of trills, as of leaping or stepwise
passages, one must stop even if the said note be an eighth, or a sixteenth or dissimilar to the following:
because such pausing will avoid confusing one passage with another (1616).

Since I have also been concerned with ease, study and beauty together, it seems to me a very convenient
things to the player if the works seemed fatiguing starting from the beginning to the end one may take
[them from] where it will please most & finish in those that will end in its key … the Cadences [must be]
sustained greatly before beginning the other section … (1624).

[Organists] will also be able to use the said Versets at their pleasure, ending in their Cadences in the
Canzonas as in the Ricercars, when they might seem too long (1635).

The beginnings of the Toccatas will be done adagio, arpeggiating with order, without Confusion, striking
the voices separated the one from the other, but in the manner of a unified harmony so as not to take
away the beauty of the passage, always being careful not to leave the instrument empty.

be careful to distinguish the sections, taking them more and less strictly in accordance with the
difference of their effetti, which appear by playing (1615). In these compositions titled Capricci, I have
not maintained as easy a style as in my Ricercari. But one must not however judge their difficulty before
putting them well into practice on the instrument where with study one will know the affect that it must
have (1624).

When you find passages of Songlike affetti, you must take a broad tempo with the fermatas appropriate
and Suitable to the affetto. [17]

trill plus passaggio: When you find a trill of the right or left hand, and at the same time the other hand
has a passaggio one must not divide note for note, but only seek that the trill be fast, and the passaggio
be taken less rapidly and expressively: otherwise it would cause confusion (1616).

1. In the Toccatas [of the Fiori] when you will find some trills, or affettuoso passages play them slowly
and in the eighths follow in the parts together to make them somewhat allegro and in the trills let them
be taken more adagio slowing the beat although the toccatas must be played at the pleasure of the
player according to his taste (1635). [18]

eighths and sixteenths: When one finds some passage of eighths and sixteenth together in both hands, it
must not be taken too rapidly: and that hand that will play the sixteenths must play them somewhat
dotted, that is not the first, but the second should have the dot, and so all the first no, and the second
yes (1616) [see below].

In his direction to “swing” the eighth notes Frescobaldi is following a performance tradition:

Bovicelli 1594, 14: “… dotting every other eighth note” (“…facendo i ponti ad una croma si, e l’altra
nò….”)
Fasolo 1645 [3]: … the beginning [eleuatione] of the versets, cantus fermi as well as fughe, must be
played allegro, and where there are eighths, or sixteenths, they are played as if they were half dotted so
that the melody comes out more spirited.[21]

passi doppi: In double passages similarly go slowly, so that they may stand out better, and in descending
by a leap let the last note before the leap be always resolute, and swift (1615). Before playing the double
passages with both hands in sixteenths one must pause at the preceding note, even if it be black: then
play the passage resolutely, in order to show so much more the agility of the hand (1616).

… where the music is full of dissonances, for the sake of variety it succeeds very well sometimes to play
as they do in Naples, where they restrike the same dissonance several times, now soft, & now loud, and
the more dissonant it is, the more they restrike it, but in truth this [manner of] playing succeeds better in
practice than in words, and particularly for those who relish affettuoso playing.

…and in the triplas, or sesquialteras, if they are major [e.g.,

3/2 ], that they be taken adagio, if minor [] somewhat more allegro, if of three quarters more allegro[3;]
if they are six for four let their tempo be given making the beat move rapidly (1624). [26]

If they [the readers] find some unaccustomed tempo, that is, with one part signed with a proportional
signature, & the other following the ordinary tempo, let them not therefore believe that it is by error,
but let them consider well the score (1628).

When you find a trill of the right or left hand, and at the same time the other hand has a passaggio one
must not divide note for note, but only seek that the trill be fast, and the passaggio be taken less rapidly
and expressively (1616)

When one finds some passage of eighths and sixteenth together in both hands, it must not be taken too
rapidly: and that hand that will play the sixteenths must play them somewhat dotted, that is not the first,
but the second should have the dot, and so all the first no, and the second yes (1616).

Now we come to diminutions, & above all you must remember in what manner one must keep the hand
straight with the arm & as if somewhat cupped, and the fingers curved, and equal, so that one [finger] is
not higher than the other, & that they do not harden, nor get on each other, nor draw back, and that
they do not beat the Keys, and that the arm guides the hand, & that the hand, & the arm be always
above the Key that is played, and that the fingers detach well the Keys, that is, that one Key is not struck
until the finger is lifted from the other, & that they be raised, and lowered at the same time. Advising you
not to raise the fingers too much above the Keys, & and above all to keep the hand lively, & light.[34]

Diruta contrasts these prescriptions with the defects of earlier keyboard technique:

… a difficulty, about carrying the fingers of the right hand, that when they play ascending, they hold the
second finger stretched out and strained, & even the large [middle] finger strained under the hand, &
the fifth finger drawn back too far, which [fingers] are in such a position, in both hands, they they
become hardened, and strike the black keys in such a way that the other fingers cannot move with
agility.[35]

Diruta noted that some organists

…strike the keys and [then] raise their hands from the keyboard so that they make the Organ remain
without sound for the space of half a beat, and quite often a whole one, so that it seems, that they are
playing quilled instruments, and that they are about to begin some Saltarello.[36]

Frescobaldi’s one reference to fingering, in the context of organ music, suggests that he shared
something of Diruta’s norm of sustained organ sound: “In the Canti fermi [of the Fiori musicali] although
they are tied[,] in order not to impede the hands they can be untied for greater ease when one has used
all the facility one knows” (1635). In fact, the only long ties in the Kyries are not in the chants themselves
but in pedal-points, which therefore would sometimes necessitate finger substitutions in order to be
performed legato as written.

Despite Frescobaldi’s documented mastery of both organ and harpsichord, Diruta claimed that
harpsichordists will “never, or rarely” play real music (“cose Musicale [!]”), while organists will “never
play dances on quilled instruments well” [I, f. 5v]. For the harpsichordist

[f. 6]: The instrument must be evenly quilled so that it plucks easily, and must be played in a lively
manner so the harmony is not lost; and it must be ornamented with tremolos, and graceful accenti: &
that same effect made by the wind of the Organ in sustaining the harmony, you must make on the
quilled instrument; For example, when you play on the Organ a Breve or Semibreve you hear the
complete harmony without re-striking the Key: but when you play the same notes on a quilled
instrument you will lack more than half the harmony: therefore you must make good such a lack with
the liveliness, & dexterity of the hand by striking the Key lightly several times.[37]

A Milanese manuscript “Metodo per il clavicordo” (“Method for the harpsichord”) dated in the first half
of the seventeenth century suggests that surviving descriptions of early fingering such as those of Diruta
and Banchieri were not the only possibilities, and that practice was in flux:

For employing the hand there are many rules because one person uses the hand in one way and another
[person uses it] in another. For this reason one must not write rules of any sort and it is just necessary to
leave the convenience to the habit of the student but not in the old custom, as not with the two fingers
up and down, but with the right hand, stepwise going up, and all the virtuosi use the second and third
[finger] in this left hand.[46]

Diruta advises an extensive addition of tremolos to written compositions:

I/f. 10v: tremolos] must be made in beginning some Ricercar, or Canzona, or whatever other [work] one
wishes; & also when one hand plays several parts, & the other a single part, in that single part tremolos
must be used; and then as it happens to be convenient, & at the judgment of the Organists, advising
them that the tremolo done with grace, & appropriately, adorns all the playing, & makes the harmony
lively & graceful.[74]