Recercare and fantasia

A line of evolution through the renaissance

Vincenzo Capirola and Marco Antonio Cavazzoni are two other important early recercare composers.
  The recercares in the Capirola ms. are written in a much more structured and refined style than the ones in Petrucci's publications, while Cavazzoni's "Recerhchari, motetti, canzoni, libro primo" (Venice, 1523) includes the earliest known recercares for a keyboard instrument.

Even if the earliest recercares we know of are from Italy, it's far from certain that the form originated there. At least seven books with vihuela music were pulished in Spain between 1536 and 1576. Even the oldest of these, Luys Milán's "El Maestro" includes some "fantasias" in a highly developed, characteristically Spanish, style. Besides, improvising pre-, inter-, and postludes to songs were very common in Spain, many of the vihuela books include detailed instruction for this. I have not been able to find any similar tradition in 16th century Italy.
  But at least the name "recercare" seems to be genuinely Italian. We hardly know of any renaissance works with that title outside Italy. The only major exceptions are Bakfark and Ortiz, but both these composers sseem to have been very Italian inspired. Ortiz' works were even originally published in Italy. Besides, Ortiz' "recercardas" are variations of well-known dances, and not very much related to the Italian recercare at all.

The mid 16th century recercare is perhaps best represented by the works of Francesco da Milano (ex. 3). His works in the genre are often longer and more structured than earlier compositions. Imitations, sequences etc. are frequent. And there is no reference whatsoever to vocal music. The recercares of Da Milano and his contemporaries are independent pieces only aimed towards the pure enjoyment of music. There is even a change of name. In the first published book of da Milano's works, they are called "recercares", but in later editions the same pieces are labelled "fantasias".

From there the recercare develops in two different directions. Italian church musicians generally keep the old name. They just change one letter and call it ricercare. Musically they adopt much of the techniques of their main activity, the motet - so much in fact that some historicans have claimed that the ricercare developed as an instrumental counterpart to the motet.

Lutenists and other composers of secular music wrote "fantasias". Even if the fantasia gradually became more and more "conterpuntal", it always maintained some of it's improvisational character.
  At first the fantasia branch is the one which becomes the most important one outside Italy and Spain.
  One important exception to this is Valentin Bakfark, the first fantasia composer of importance from northern Europe. Although written for the lute, Bakfark's "rececates" are clearly inspired by four part motets. They are also composed at a much larger scale than most any other instrumental music from the renaissance.
  But Bakfark is always an exception. Though he was tremendously popular in his own lifetime, few, if any, lutenists had the technical skill to pick up and continue his style. Today Bakfark's lute music is generally concidered too difficult to play.
  More important is the fantasia in late 16th century England. Both King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I employed Italian musicians who of course brought with them their native music. The first English "fantasias" - or "fancies" - fell somewhere between the ricercare and the fantasia branches. They were often based either on the "In nomine" from Taverner's "Gloria tibi Trinitas" mass, or simply on an ascending scale ("Ut re mi fa so la").
  In England fantasias were generally composed either for keyboards (virginal or organ) or for a chamber ensemble.
  Many seems to regard the English lute fantasias as very important, but in fact there are very few English lute works within the genre.
  However, what the English lute fancy lacked in quantity, one composer almost single-handedly made up for in quality and originality.
  Most of John Dowland's ten surviving fancies are more aptly named fugues than fantasias. Especially the four fancys based on an ascending or descending six note chromatic motif (the ultimate symbol of melancholy in late renaissance rhetorics) are more similar to some of Bach's more advanced works than of anything from Dowland's time. (Digression: Dowland actually used the title "fuge" once, but that for for a short canon.)
  Dowland's chromatic fantasies became a great inspiration for the English viol consort composers of the early 17th century who extended the chromatic fantasy idea up to twelve tone themes hovering on the border to atonal music.

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck might be concidered the last composer of renaissance fantasies. Like other Dutch composers of his time, he was strongly inspired by English music. His organ and harpsichord fantasies are influenced by both the virginalists and by Dowland.
  But Sweelinck also developed the form further, and some pieces, such as his only known lute fantasy (ex. 4) turn out to be pure baroque fugues.

Sweelinck's students, particularly Scheidt and Scheidemann, are usually regarded as baroque composers. They developed their teacher's fantasies/fugues even further and laid the foundation for later German composers like Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Telemann and Bach. But that's another story.

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