Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

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132 • FLUMMERFELT, JOSEPH

FLUMMERFELT, JOSEPH (24 FEBRUARY 1937– ). American

choral conductor. From 1971 until his retirement in 2004, he served

as conductor of the Westminster Choir at Westminster Choir Col-

lege of Rider University in Princeton. Since 1977 he has served as

director of choral activities for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston,

South Carolina; for 23 years he was the chorus master for the Festi-

val dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. He is chorus master for the New

York Philharmonic, founder and conductor of the New York Choral

Artists, and former music director of Singing City in Philadelphia.

His choirs can be heard on dozens of recordings, including more than

20 with the New York Philharmonic.

FOGGIA, FRANCESCO (1604–7 JANUARY 1688). Italian church

composer, active in 17th-century Rome. Having trained as a choirboy

in Rome, he went on to serve at the courts of the Elector Ferdinand

Maximilian at Cologne, Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria at Munich,

and Archduke Leopold of Austria at Brussels. By 1628 he was back

in Italy, where he worked at several churches before attaining the

position of maestro di cappella at San Giovanni in Laterano (Basilica

of St. John Lateran, Rome). He served there from 1637 until 1661,

establishing a considerable reputation. From 1661 to 1677 he worked

at San Lorenzo in Damaso (Basilica Saint Lawrence in the House

of Damasus), before concluding his career at the Basilica di Santa

Maria Maggiore. Between 1646 and 1681 Foggia published some

one dozen volumes of motets (including small-scale works for a few

solo voices and continuo), masses (for three to nine voices with con-

tinuo), and other liturgical works. His involvement with the Oratorio

del SS Crocifisso (a Roman oratory where the oratorio latino was

first developed) resulted in David fugiens a facie Saul and Tobiae;

in these oratorios the chorus plays a more significant role than was

usual at the time. Some 60 works appear in other collections issued

during his lifetime, attesting the high esteem in which he was held

by his contemporaries. Foggia’s works demonstrate considerable

contrapuntal skill (for which he was known), strong rhythms, and

clear harmonic direction.

FORD, THOMAS (BORN C. 1580; BURIED 17 NOVEMBER

1648). English composer and viol player, who served Prince Henry

and then Prince Charles (who was crowned king in 1625) until the

start of the English Civil War in 1642. Apart from two anthems and

FOSS, LUKAS • 133

four canons appearing in published collections of 1614 and 1652,

respectively, most of his vocal works remain (evidently undeserv-

edly) in manuscript. His surviving vocal ensemble works include 19

anthems (for three to six voices), 4 sacred canons, and 35 partsongs

(for three voices).

FORMES FIXES. Structural forms specifying patterns of poetic and

musical repetition in medieval French (secular) vocal pieces, each

with refrain; in particular, ballade, rondeau, and virelai.

FOSS, LUKAS (15 AUGUST 1922–1 FEBRUARY 2009). American

composer, conductor, and pianist. Born in Berlin, he took early les-

sons in piano and theory. In 1933 his family moved to Paris, where

he studied piano, flute, composition, and orchestration. In 1937

he emigrated to the United States, where he enrolled at the Curtis

Institute, and took additional studies with Fritz Reiner and Sergey

Koussevitzky (conducting), and Paul Hindemith (composition).

Early recognition as a composer came with his cantata The Prairie,

for S, A, T, B, chorus, and orch. (1944), which was premiered by

Robert Shaw and his Collegiate Chorale. In 1953 he received an

appointment as professor of composition and conducting at the Uni-

versity of California, Los Angeles (succeeding Arnold Schoenberg).

In the 1960s he began serving as conductor of various orchestras,

including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (1963–70), the Brook-

lyn Philharmonic Orchestra (1971–91), the Kol Israel Orchestra

of Jerusalem (1972–76), and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

(1981–86). He also appeared widely as a guest conductor of other

orchestras in the United States and abroad, and as a lecturer at edu-

cational institutions.

As a composer Foss was curious about a wide variety of styles, and

receptive to new trends. In his own works he moved from an eclec-

tic, neo-Classical style (often characterized by American populism)

through avant-garde experimentation during the 1960s and 1970s

(characterized by improvisation, indeterminacy, and serialism), and

back to a more traditional approach, which nevertheless retained

some features of his experimental period.

In addition to the cantata mentioned above, his choral works

include Cool Prayers (1944); Behold I Build an House, with org./

pf. (1950); Adon olom, with cantor and org. (1951); A Parable

of Death, with narr., T, and orch. (1952); Psalms, with orch./2

134 • FOSTER, STEPHEN

pf. (1956); Fragments of Archilochos, for Ct., male spkr., female

spkr., 4 small choruses, large chorus ad lib., mand., gui., and 3

perc. (1965); Three Airs for Frank O’Hara’s Angel, for S, female

chorus, fl., pf., 2 perc. (1972); Lamdeni mi [Teach me], with 6

insts. (1973); American Cantata, with T and orch. (1976); And

Then the Rocks on the Mountain Began to Shout (1978, after the

brass qnt. of the same year); De profundis (1982); and With Music

Strong, with orch. (1988).

FOSTER, STEPHEN (4 JULY 1826–13 JANUARY 1864). Pre-

eminent 19th-century American songwriter, some of whose parlor

songs and songs for minstrel shows were later arranged for choir. He

was the first composer in the United States to subsist on the income

from the sale of his compositions. Of nearly 300 works, the ones to

become most famous were those dealing with themes of the black

American South.

Living in Allegheny City (now Pittsburgh), Cincinnati, and New

York, Foster learned the musical styles of various immigrant groups

(Scottish-Irish, German, Italian) but had little personal experience of

the South, and so relied largely on his own second-hand impressions

to write the lyrics and music of his songs, many of which transcend

the prejudices of the time to convey universal human emotions. His

most famous pieces include Beautiful Dreamer, Camptown Races,

Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair, Massa’s in de Cold Ground,

My Old Kentucky Home, Old Folks at Home (Swanee River), Oh!

Susanna (which became the unofficial theme song of the California

Gold Rush and its related westward expansion), and Old Black Joe.

See also SPIRITUAL.

FRANCK, CÉSAR (10 DECEMBER 1822–8 NOVEMBER 1890).

French composer, organist, and teacher, whose fame rests primarily

on a few of his later keyboard works and the Symphony in D minor.

He was born in Liège (later part of Belgium). Because he showed

early musical promise, his father, hoping to establish him as a fa-

mous virtuoso, enrolled him at the local conservatory in 1830 (where

he soon won prizes), and presented him in concert, locally and in

Brussels and Aachen (1835). In 1835 the family moved to Paris,

but the conservatory did not admit him until 1837 on the grounds of

his father’s nationality. Once enrolled, he again soon won prizes for

piano (1838) and counterpoint (1840).

FRANCK, MELCHIOR • 135

Franck experienced only modest success as a composer, however,

and he became estranged from his parents. To support himself, he

taught (both privately and institutionally) and worked as a church

organist and artistic representative of the organ builder, Cavaillé-

Coll, gaining a considerable reputation for his skill at improvisation.

Eventually, a loyal band of followers began to promote his music

(especially through concerts of the Société Nationale de Musique),

and in the 1870s his reputation as a composer began to grow. In 1872

he was appointed professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory, where

he taught until his death, attracting students interested in composition

as well as the organ.

Franck’s choral works are almost exclusively sacred. Large-scale

works include the oratorios Ruth, for solo vv., chorus, and orch.

(1846; rev. 1871); Rédemption, for S, female vv., spkr., and orch.

(1872, rev. significantly in 1874); and Les béatitudes, for solo vv.,

chorus, and orch. (1879). In addition, a chorus is employed in the

symphonic poem Psyché (1888; arr. pf. 4 hands, 1893). The cantatas

Cantique de Moïse, Plainte des Israélites, and La tour de Babel, as

well as the oratorio Les sept paroles du Christ were left in manu-

script. Among approximately 15 other (mostly small-scale) works are

Messe à 3 voix, for STB and orch. (1860, rev. for reduced orchestra-

tion in 1872); Ave Maria, for STB and org. (1863); Trois offertoires,

with org. and other instruments (1861); and Psalm 150, for chorus,

org., and orch. (1883).

FRANCK, MELCHIOR (C. 1579–1 JUNE 1639). Prolific Ger-

man composer of the Protestant Reformation. In 1601 he moved to

Nuremberg, where he met Hans Leo Hassler, and thus came under

the influence of both the northern polyphonic style and the Venetian

antiphonal style, as exemplified by Orlande de Lassus and passed

on to Hans Leo Hassler via Leonhard Lechner. In 1602/3 Franck

moved to Coburg, where he served as Kapellmeister for Duke Johann

Casimir of Saxe-Coburg. During the Thirty Years’ War his working

conditions worsened, but he remained with the court, even after Jo-

hann Casimir died childless in 1633, and his brother, Johann Ernst,

Duke of Saxe-Eisenach, who inherited Saxe-Coburg, curtailed musi-

cal activities, maintaining a primary residence in Eisenach.

Over 1,450 of Franck’s compositions have been identified. Most

of the vocal works are motets in a conservative (often imitative),

136 • FRANCO-FLEMISH SCHOOL

yet expressive, style. Many are based on chorales; most are German

settings of biblical texts, and even the Latin settings provide German

translations. Some are antiphonal, though they do not necessarily al-

low spatial separation of the choirs.

Frank published more than 40 volumes of motets (mostly for four

to eight voices) during his lifetime. Only four of these collections

employ an organ continuo. In fact, most of his motets can be per-

formed without instruments. An early collection, called Contrapuncti

(1602), contains fugues for four voices or instruments.

He also published over a dozen collections of secular works (in-

cluding one with 11 quodlibets); most of the pieces call for four to

six voices. Many of these volumes also contain instrumental dances;

their influence on the vocal pieces is evident from the latter’s dance-

like character.

Although Franck’s works are relatively conservative when com-

pared with those of contemporaries such as Heinrich Schütz, they

were very popular in his day and frequently reprinted.

FRANCO-FLEMISH SCHOOL. Composers of counterpoint from

the Low Countries during the 15th and 16th centuries; also the style

of counterpoint cultivated by them. Also called “Netherlanders,”

they were revered throughout Europe for their skill, and many were

hired by leading courts and churches in Italy, France, Germany,

Spain, and elsewhere. Leading composers included Guillaume

Dufay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnoys, Jean de Ockeghem,

Jacob Obrecht, Heinrich Isaac, Pierre de la Rue [La Rue], Jos-

quin des Prez, Nicolas Gombert, Adrian Willaert, Clemens non

Papa, and Orlande de Lassus. See also AGRICOLA, ALEXAN-

DER; ARCADELT, JACQUES; BRASSART, JOHANNES; CI-

CONIA, JOHANNES; CRECQUILLON, THOMAS; GHIZEHEM,

HAYNE VAN; KERLE, JACOBUS; LECHNER, LEONHARD;

LUPI, JOHANNES; MANCHICOURT, PIERRE DE; MARTINI,

JOHANNES; MONTE, PHILIPPE DE; MOUTON, JEAN; REGN-

ART, JACOB; RICHAFORT, JEAN; ROGIER, PHILIPPE; RORE,

CYPRIANO DE; SENFL, LUDWIG; SWEELINCK, JAN PIET-

ERSZOON; TINCTORIS, JOHANNES; WEERBEKE, GASPAR

VAN; WERT, GIACHES DE.

FROTTOLA. A major indigenous Italian genre (cultivated c. 1470–

1530), which led to the madrigal. It is characterized by a treble-

FRYE, WALTER • 137

dominated, homophonic texture, syllabic declamation, and strophic

form. Its poetry has little independent literary value, and usually pres-

ents stereotypical amorous, humorous, or satirical themes. Word-

painting is limited, given the strophic form.

Frottole went by various names in printed collections of the time.

More than two dozen volumes of such works appeared between 1504

and 1531, including 11 books (of which the 10th book no longer

survives) published between 1504 and 1514 in Venice by Ottaviano

Petrucci. Early examples of the genre are for three voices; later ones

call for four. Since the text often appears only in the top voice, we

may assume that the lower voices were often played in some manner.

Occasional inclusion of animal sounds foreshadowed the chanson.

A reaction against the poor texts was led by Cardinal Pietro

Bembo, whose goal was to bring back the literary style of Fran-

cesco Petrarch. With more expressive texts, the frottola became

less chordal and more imitative, allowing for closer text-music

associations.

The frottola was cultivated particularly in Mantua, where Isabella

d’Este exercised great influence as a patron of the arts. The most sig-

nificant composers were Marchetto Cara and Bartolomeo Tromb-

oncino. Northern European composers who wrote frottole included

Josquin des Prez, Alexander Agricola, and Loyset Compère. The

frottola’s sacred counterpart was the lauda, and many composers of

the frottola also wrote laude.

FRYE, WALTER (FLOURISHED C. 1450–1475). English com-

poser who served Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. His few

extant works (some of which are attributed to others, and which

survive primarily in Continental manuscripts) include four masses

(most of them for three voices, all of them based on cantus firmi

in the tenor and employing motto techniques), four Latin motets,

three ballades, and one rondeau. Characterized by the prevailing

triadic consonance for which English music had been famous since

the time of John Dunstable, they appear to have been widely ad-

mired and disseminated in Europe. His influence is evident from

the reappearance of his three-voice motet Ave regina celorum ma-

ter Regis angelorum in the works of later composers: some added

voices to it, while Jacob Obrecht and Alexander Agricola bor-

rowed its tenor.

138 • FUGUE

FUGUE (ADJ. FUGAL). A composition or musical passage in imita-

tive style for a fixed number of vocal or instrumental parts, built on

a single primary theme, called a subject. A formal fugue (as opposed

to a passage in fugal style) begins with an exposition, in which the

subject is introduced successively in each of the “voices.” Often the

subject is followed by a countersubject, a distinctive contrapuntal

line that regularly accompanies the subject. After the first statement

of the subject, a second voice enters, usually on the dominant (fifth)

scale degree, while the original voice continues with the countersub-

ject. The effect is that of statement and answer, or leader (dux) and

follower (comes). Fugal answers are said to be real if they are literal

repetitions and thus imply a new key, tonal if they are adjusted to

stay in the original key. The exposition is concluded when all parts

have presented the subject in turn. The rest of the fugue alternates

statements of the subject (often in new keys) with contrasting pas-

sages called episodes, which (though often built of musically related

material presented in sequential fashion) do not state the subject or

countersubject explicitly. Special fugal devices include augmentation

(presenting the subject in lengthened rhythmic values), diminution

(presenting the subject in shortened rhythmic values), and stretto

(overlapping entries of the subject for increased tension). In a per-

mutation fugue the subject combines with several countersubjects in

a manner resembling a canon. The art of the fugue was cultivated

especially during the 17th and 18th centuries, and may be regarded

as one of the greatest musical achievements of the Baroque era. The

master of the form was Johann Sebastian Bach.

FULL ANTHEM. See ANTHEM; ENGLISH CATHEDRAL MUSIC

OF THE REFORMATION AND RESTORATION.

FUX, JOHANN JOSEPH (1660–13 FEBRUARY 1741). Austrian

composer and theorist, whose treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad

Parnassum, has been widely used in the instruction of music theory

and composition ever since it was written. Although of humble ori-

gins, Fux received a broad education at Jesuit institutions in Graz and

Ingolstadt, which continued until 1687. Details regarding his activities

in the following years are not known, but it is clear that by 1695 he had

made connections with influential members of the imperial court in

Vienna, which led to employment there as a composer. He served three

emperors during his lifetime: Leopold I (d. 1705), Joseph I (d. 1711),

GABRIELI, ANDREA • 139

and Charles VI. In 1705 he was appointed assistant Kapellmeister at

St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Vienna); in 1712 he advanced to the position

of Kapellmeister, which he retained until 1714. At the imperial court

his duties included composing liturgical music, fulfilling commissions

for opera and oratorio, writing music for other courtly events, and

administrative tasks.

In Gradus ad Parnassum, which he published in 1725, Fux eluci-

dated his conviction that new musical trends should be grounded in

the best of traditional styles and techniques (as embodied particularly

in the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina). He was a prolific

composer himself, though he apparently produced little before his

appointment to the imperial court. It is obvious that he focused on

sacred music: his 16 extant operas are vastly outnumbered by some

84 masses, 5 Requiem masses (one of them—written in 1720 for

the widow of Leopold I—was performed repeatedly in the following

years), dozens of complete or partial Vespers settings, and another

200 motets, antiphons, litanies, etc. Also surviving are a dozen ora-

torios (which feature some large-scale choral movements).

Although Fux advocated the stile antico as the true foundation of

church music, almost all of his vocal works call for instruments, mix-

ing instrumental and vocal styles. Some of the smaller works were

evidently intended for solo performance—especially those written

for one or two voices with a few instruments.

Fux was much admired during his lifetime by other leading com-

posers, including Johann Sebastian Bach. Among his students were

Jan Dismas Zelenka and Georg Wagenseil.

– G –

GABRIELI, ANDREA (?1532/33–30 AUGUST 1585). Italian com-

poser and organist, uncle of Giovanni Gabrieli. Little is known

about his personal or professional life. He was probably born in

Venice. In 1557 he competed for an organ position at San Marco (St.

Mark’s Basilica) but the position went to Claudio Merulo. In 1562

he traveled to Frankfurt with a retinue from the Bavarian court of

Duke Wilhelm V for the coronation of Maximilian II, along with Or-

lande de Lassus, who was employed by the duke. He was evidently

hired as an organist at San Marco in 1566, following the appointment

140 • GABRIELI, GIOVANNI

of Gioseffo Zarlino as maestro di cappella. (The other organist at

the church was still Claudio Merulo.)

Gabrieli wrote in all musical genres. He was influential in de-

veloping the polychoral concertato style for which St. Mark’s

became famous—no doubt the acoustical and architectural char-

acteristics of the cathedral (in which groups of performers are

spatially separated) and the frequent need for ceremonial music

contributed to this musical development. His choral works include

6 masses (for four and six voices) and a series of mass movements

(requiring five to 16 voices in as many as four choirs), some 120

motets (mostly for four to eight voices, more than 20 of which

also appear with other texts), some 175 madrigals (for three to

12 voices, most of them for five or six voices), and choruses for a

1585 staged production of Sophocles’s Oedipus tyrannus in Italian

translation. Many of his works were published before his death or

in the decades immediately following—either in volumes devoted

to his works alone (e.g., the volumes published in 1587 and 1589

by his nephew, Andrea Gabrieli) or in collections of works by a

variety of composers. Andrea Gabrieli’s influence was extended

through the work of his students, who included Giovanni Gabrieli

and Hans Leo Hassler.

GABRIELI, GIOVANNI (BORN C. 1554–57; DIED AUGUST

1612). Italian composer and organist. Along with Adrian Willaert,

Andrea Gabrieli, and Claudio Merulo, he made the Venetian con-

certante style renowned throughout Europe. A nephew of Andrea

Gabrieli, he was probably born in Venice, and evidently had a close

relationship with his uncle. In the 1570s he was in Munich, where he

likely studied with Orlande de Lassus, probably until 1579, when

the duke died. In 1584 he became temporary organist at San Marco

(St. Mark’s Basilica), succeeding Merulo; in 1585 he successfully

competed for the permanent position, which he retained until his

death. When Andrea died later that year, Giovanni succeeded him

as principal composer. That year he was also appointed as organist

to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (a confraternity founded to assist

Venetian citizens in time of plague). He held the position simultane-

ously with the St. Mark’s post until his death. His international fame

drew many students to Venice; among the most influential in Ger-

many was Heinrich Schütz.

GADE, NIELS WILHELM • 141

Giovanni wrote some secular music, including 32 extant madri-

gals (12 of them for five voices, the others calling for three to 15

voices), several of which also appear with sacred texts. However,

most of his efforts were directed toward providing music for sacred

services, especially for grand ceremonial occasions (often celebra-

tions of the Mass or Vespers), when important dignitaries were pres-

ent. For these he wrote large-scale works that combined instrumental

and vocal ensembles in a splendid concertante style that extended the

techniques of Andrea, with greater use of dissonance, wider range of

tonalities, greater contrasts of color, and greater thematic develop-

ment. Since some of the polychoral works have bass lines reaching

down to low C, it has been speculated that (despite the inclusion of

texts) these lines were played by instruments. Among more than 100

extant sacred vocal works are a few individual mass movements (for

12 voices), 7 Magnificats (for eight to 33 voices) and many motets

(most of them for eight or more voices). One of these is In ecclesis,

included in the collection Sacrae Symphoniae. He also wrote canzo-

nas and sonatas for instrumental ensemble, and canzonas, toccatas,

and ricercars for keyboard.

GÄCHINGER KANTOREI. A German choir named after the town of

Gächingen on the outskirts of Stuttgart. Founded in 1954 by Helmuth

Rilling, the choir has grown to international stature through its many

critically acclaimed recordings and international tours—often ac-

companied by the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, an orchestra founded

by Rilling in 1965.

GADE, NIELS WILHELM (22 FEBRUARY 1817–21 DECEMBER

1890). Danish composer, conductor, violinist, and educator. Having

begun his career as a violinist, he gained an increasing reputation

as a composer after he won a competition sponsored by the Copen-

hagen Music Society in 1840 with the concert overture Efterklange

af Ossian [Echoes of Ossian]. His career received a considerable

boost from Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. The former

performed his first symphony in 1843 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus

Orchestra, and the latter wrote approvingly about him in the Neue

Zeitschrift für Musik.

Gade was subsequently engaged as assistant conductor of the Ge-

wandhaus Orchestra and as a teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory.