Published
Lamentation sur ce que j’ay été volé et se joüe à la discretion et encore mieux que les soldats m’ont traité (FbWV 614)
Lamentation sur ce que j’ay été volé et se joüe à la discretion et encore mieux que les soldats m’ont traité (FbWV 614) belongs to the so-called Book of Empress Sibylla (1656), dedicated to Sibylla, dowager empress of the Holy Roman Empire, who protected Froberger after his service at the Viennese court. This period was marked by experiences of grief and travel that left a clear imprint on his music.
Several musicologists, including Siegbert Rampe and Peter Wollny, have observed that Froberger organises his suites almost as “itineraries of the soul.” This suite can therefore be interpreted symbolically as a reflection on life, death and the hope of salvation.
Although the suite is not explicitly a tombeau, it can be understood within Froberger’s thought as meditative music concerning the transience of life. Its austere tone, relative absence of virtuosity and restrained expressiveness make it a sonic reflection on time, loss and transcendence.
Froberger was one of the earliest composers who produced programmatic pieces, which he would usually include in his suites. These pieces are always very personal, written in an affective style and with individual titles. They include the following (in alphabetical order):
- Allemande, faite en passant le Rhin dans une barque en grand péril
- Lamentation faite sur la mort très douloureuse de Sa Majesté Impériale, Ferdinand le troisième (FbWV 633) (1657)
- Lamentation sur ce que j’ay été volé et se joüe à la discretion et encore mieux que les soldats m’ont traité (FbWV 614) (1656)
- Lamento sopra la dolorosa perdita della Real Maestà di Ferdinando IV Rè de Romani (FbWV 612) (1654)
- Méditation faite sur ma mort future, la quelle se joue lentement avec discretion (FbWV 620) (1660)
- Plainte faite à Londres pour passer la melancholie (FbWV 632)
- Tombeau fait à Paris sur la mort de Monsieur Blancrocher (FbWV 632) (1652)
These works frequently feature musical metaphors. The structure and style of Froberger’s programmatic works contributed to the development of the ‘unmeasured prelude’.
Louis Couperin, Georg Böhm, Dieterich Buxtehude, and Johann Pachelbel are among the composers who were influenced by Froberger. Various less known composers such as François Roberday or Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer also knew his music and borrowed from it. Johann Sebastian Bach was influenced by Froberger, although only to a certain degree. One of the fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier uses a subject from Froberger’s Ricercar No. 4 (FbWV 404); however, Bach probably picked the theme from J.C.F. Fischer, who borrowed it from Froberger for his Ariadne musica, published some 20 years before the Well-Tempered Clavier.