Tombeau pour Monsieur Blancrocher (Froberger)
Movements
Notes
Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. In 1652 he witnessed the death of the famed lutenist Blancrocher (who was his friend and reportedly died in his arms having accidentally fallen down the stairs). Although Blancrocher was not an important composer, his death left a mark on the history of music, as Couperin, Gaultier, Dufaut and Froberger all wrote tombeaux lamenting the event. The tradition of the Tombeau is one which was popular at this time but has been largely lost today. It was a work composed in memory of a recently deceased person, slow and often deeply emotive in style. With its origins in French literature, the tombeau was first taken on by the French lutenists of the early sixteenth century.
