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German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso and organist Johann Jakob Froberger was born in 1616 in Stuttgart, where his father was court Kapellmeister. His family later moved to Vienna and Jacob later studied in Rome with Athanasius Kircher before travelling to Paris, where he became acquainted with composers such as Couperin and Gaultier. Froberger himself became one of the most famous composers of the era, even though only two of his many compositions were published during his lifetime.

He is often credited as being the creator of the Baroque dance suite and he was among the first composers to focus equally on both harpsichord/clavichord and organ, blending Italian and French genres and techniques with quintessentially ‘German’ style music. He paved the way for J S Bach’s elaborate contributions to the genre and influenced almost every major composer in Europe, including Pachelbel, Buxtehude, Handel and Beethoven. His keyboard works are often played on harpsichord and some, like the suites, were specifically written for that instrument.

On this new album is the first recording all 14 of his Canzonas and Fantasias, played on clavichord by Terence Charlston. These are amongst his most beautifully crafted yet most neglected works and survive together with toccatas and partitas in a meticulously written autograph manuscript, the Libro Secondo, dated 19 September 1649. The instrument used here is a reconstruction of a South German clavichord in the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum and it is ideal for the strongly contrapuntal music of J J Froberger. The clavichord is a small quiet instrument but does have a wide dynamic range and even variable vibrato, so is an extremely difficult instrument to master. Fortunately, Terence Charlston is one of the UK’s foremost exponents of early keyboard music as a soloist on organ, clavichord and harpsichord, and an international reputation as one of the leaders of this area of music.

This is a welcome exploration of the work of a composer who has been called the Chopin of the seventeenth century – a ‘romantic’ composer even before the term had been invented.