Toccata (Italian for to touch) is a Virtuoso piece of classical music for a keyboard instrument or plucked string instrument featuring sections of brilliant passagework, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments (the opening of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Orfeo being a notable example). A virtuoso (from Italian virtuoso, late Latin virtuosus, Latin virtus meaning: skill, manliness, excellence) is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... Guitar and lute This ilustration in a French Psalter from the 9th century (c. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Orfeo (LOrfeo, favola in musica) is one of the earliest works recognized as an opera, composed by Claudio Monteverdi with text by Alessandro Striggio for the annual carnival of Mantua. ...

The form first appeared in the late Renaissance period. It originated in northern Italy. Several publications of the 1590s include toccatas, by composers such as Girolamo Diruta, Adriano Banchieri, Claudio Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Luzzasco Luzzaschi and others. These are keyboard compositions in which one hand, and then the other, performs virtuosic runs and brilliant cascading passages against a chordal accompaniment in the other hand. Among the composers working in Venice at this time was the young Hans Leo Hassler, who studied with the Gabrielis; he brought the form back with him to Germany. It was in Germany where it underwent its highest development, culminating in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach more than a hundred years later. Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... March 14 - Battle of Ivry - Henry IV of France again defeats the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne. ... Girolamo Diruta (c. ... Adriano Banchieri. ... Claudio Merulo (Merlotti, Merulus, also Claudio da Correggio) (April 8, 1533 – May 4, 1604) was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance, famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music in the Venetian polychoral style. ... Andrea Gabrieli (c. ... Giovanni Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli (c. ... Luzzasco Luzzaschi (c. ... Hans Leo Hassler (baptized October 26, 1564 – June 8, 1612) was a German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. ... Bach in a 1748 portrait by Haussmann Places in which Bach resided throughout his life Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced ) (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the...

The Baroque toccata, beginning with Girolamo Frescobaldi, is more sectional and increases in length, intensity and virtuosity from the Renaissance version, reaching heights of extravagance equivalent to the overwhelming detail seen in the architecture of the period. Often it features rapid runs and arpeggios alternating with chordal or fugal parts. Sometimes there is a lack of regular tempo, and almost always an improvisational feel. Girolamo Frescobaldi. ... Various arpeggios as seen on a staff Notation of a chord in arpeggio In music, an arpeggio is a broken chord where the notes are played or sung in succession rather than simultaneously. ... In music, a fugue (IPA: ) is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred to as voices, irrespective of whether the work is vocal or instrumental. ... Improvisation is the practice of acting and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of ones immediate environment. ...

Other Baroque composers of toccatas, in the period before Bach, include Johann Pachelbel, Michelangelo Rossi, Johann Jakob Froberger, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Alessandro Scarlatti and Dieterich Buxtehude. Johann Pachelbel (IPA: []) (baptized September 1, 1653 – March 3, 1706) was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. ... Michelangelo Rossi (Michel Angelo del Violino) (born in Genova in 1601 or 1602; died in Rome in 1656) was an important Italian composer, violinist and organist of the Baroque era. ... Johann Jakob Froberger (May 18, 1616 – May 7, 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. ... Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–October 16, 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. ... Alessandro Scarlatti Alessandro Scarlatti (May 2, 1660 – October 24, 1725) was a Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. ... The only surviving portrait of Buxtehude, from a 1674 painting by Johannes Voorhout. ...

Bach's toccatas are among the most famous examples of the form, and in the modern era one of his most well known is the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. His toccatas for organ are brilliant improvisatory compositions, and are often followed by an independent fugue movement. In such cases the toccata is used in place of the usually more stable prelude. His toccatas for harpsichord are multi-sectional works which include fugal writing as part of their structure. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is the name of two different pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach for the organ: BWV 538 and BWV 565. ... In music, a fugue (IPA: ) is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred to as voices, irrespective of whether the work is vocal or instrumental. ... A prelude is a short piece of music, usually in no particular internal form, which may serve as an introduction to succeeding movements of a work that are usually longer and more complex. ...

Beyond the Baroque period, toccatas are found less frequently, so that Robert Browning used the motif of a toccata of Baldassare Galuppi to evoke thoughts of human transience (see link). There are a few notable examples, however: Robert Schumann,Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian each wrote a toccata for solo piano, as did Maurice Ravel as part of Le Tombeau de Couperin and Claude Debussy in his 'Suite: Pour le Piano'. Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote several toccatas for solo piano. The toccata form was of great importance in the French romantic organ school, something which Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens laid the foundation of with his Fanfare. Toccatas in this style usually consist of rapid chord progressions combined with a powerful tune (often played in the pedal). The most famous examples are the ending movement of Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony No. 5, and the Finale of Louis Vierne's Symphony No. 1. More recently, John Rutter wrote Toccata in 7, so called because of its unusual time signature. Toccatas occasionally make appearances in works for full orchestra; a notable example is the final movement of the Eighth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Robert Browning (May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889) was a British poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. ... Baldassare Galuppi (October 18, 1706 - January 3, 1785) was a Venetian composer noted for his operas, and particularly opera buffa. ... For others with the same name see Robert Schumann (disambiguation). ... Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Russian: , Sergej Sergejevič Prokofijev; April 27 (April 151 O.S.), 1891–March 5, 1953) was a Russian and Soviet composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. ... Aram Ilich Khachaturian (Armenian: Արամ Խաչատրյան, Aram Xačatryan; Russian: Аpaм Ильич Xaчaтypян, Aram Ilič Hačaturjan) (June 6, 1903 – May 1, 1978) was a composer of classical music. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Maurice Ravel in 1912. ... Le Tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. ... Claude Debussy, photo by Félix Nadar, 1908. ... Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (August 14, 1892 – October 15, 1988) was a British Parsi composer, music journalist and pianist. ... Jacques-Nicolas (Jaak-Nicolaas) Lemmens (Zoele-Parwijs, near Waterloo, Belgium, January 3, 1823 - Sempst, near Malines, Belgium, January 30, 1881) was an organist and a composer for his instrument. ... Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (February 21, 1844 – March 12, 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher. ... Louis Victor Jules Vierne, (October 8, 1870–June 2, 1937) was a French organist and composer. ... John Rutter (born September 24, 1945) is an English composer, choral conductor, editor, arranger and record producer. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphony No. ... A statue of Ralph Vaughan Williams in Dorking. ...

Toccatas are also nowadays composed by modern composers, often in Neo-Baroque style. For example, the final boss theme in the video game Final Fantasy VI, "Dancing Mad," features a toccata-like organ solo in the piece's third tier. Another game, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, has a called "A Toccata into Bloodsoaked Darkness." However, this piece bears little structural resemblence to other toccatas. Final Fantasy VI ) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) in 1994 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. ... Dancing Mad is the music track that plays during the last four battles with Kefka at the end of Final Fantasy VI (released in North America as Final Fantasy III). ...

External links

• Widor's Toccata Analysis of Widor's Toccata from his Organ Symphony No. 5
• Robert Browning, "A Toccata of Galuppi's" published 1855 e-text