Authorship and Improvisation in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Keyboard Music

Several studies to date have addressed the strategies used by keyboard players in improvised performance in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the memorisation of stock solutions for elaborating a contrapuntal subject or the application of grammatical rules in the moment of performance. However, relatively little attention has been given to the practices, widespread at the time, of elaborating existing composed music. Drawing on examples from various traditions and genres from between 1550 and 1700, this chapter addresses the influence of these practices on the contents and presentation of multi-author anthologies. These anthologies have traditionally been seen as problematic from the perspective of modern editors of collected editions, who have sought to delineate the keyboard outputs of major figures, from William Byrd to Johann Jakob Froberger, a stance that has perpetuated misunderstanding of their original purpose. While the concepts of the composer and of the work existed in keyboard music – leading initially to the creation of single-author collections monumentalising the practices of liturgical organists as early as the 1560s – I argue that an understanding of keyboard music as a model and potential material for improvised elaboration continued to flourish throughout the seventeenth century.