Johann Jakob Froberger

Johann Jakob Froberger was born in Stuttgart in 1616 and died in Héricourt in 1667; he was a composer, organist and harpsichordist of the early Baroque. His father Basilius Froberger was court kapellmeister in Stuttgart from 1621. From 1637 he is documented as organist at the imperial court in Vienna; commissioned by Emperor Ferdinand III he studied in Rome with Girolamo Frescobaldi and was afterwards court organist in Vienna again from 1641 to 1645 and from 1653 to 1657. Travels took him through Italy, the Netherlands, France and England; in 1652 he stayed in Paris, and in Dresden he measured himself against Matthias Weckmann. His work for keyboard instruments comprises toccatas, ricercars, capricci, fantasias, canzonas and suites as well as lamenti, plaintes and tombeaux; the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek holds three volumes of his organ and harpsichord works. In 2014 Cybele Records released the album Johann Jakob Froberger: Organ Works.