Fiori Musicali - Influence

Influence

Fiori musicali is one of the most influential collections of music in European history. Its contents inspired collections of sacred organ music by Italian composers (Salvatore, Croci and Fasolo), and both the contents and the layout were an influence on Sebastian Anton Scherer's Op.2, Operum musicorum secundum, published in 1664. Also in 1664, Bernardo Storace used a theme from Frescobaldi's Ricercare con l'obbligo di cantare la quinta parte senza tocarla for his triple fugue. Frescobaldi's move from secular to sacred composition was echoed in Johann Caspar Kerll's similar move in his Modulatio organica (1683). Most importantly, Frescobaldi's collection was studied by Henry Purcell and Johann Sebastian Bach (the latter copied the entire work for his own use). Bach's followers and admirers such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Kirnberger, and Johann Nikolaus Forkel all knew the collection and regarded it highly. Jan Dismas Zelenka arranged parts of Fiori musicali for orchestra. Anton Reicha included a fugue on a theme from Fiori musicali in his experimental 36 Fugues of 1803.

Perhaps most importantly, pieces from Fiori musicali were used as models of the strict style in the highly influential 18th century counterpoint treatise, Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux. Although Fux evidently held Palestrina in the highest regard, his own sacred a cappella works are more influenced by Frescobaldi's instrumental pieces.