[Footnote 20: According to Michael Praetorius (_Syntagma musicum_, 1619) the Toccata was a prelude, a trial of the keyboard, as it were; a fantasia wholly devoid of form, where the organist improvised, alternating long-sustained chords with rapid passages. It was something entirely spontaneous in nature, in which every imperfection was pardoned, provided the performance was characterized by sufficient dash. The Toccatas of Frescobaldi, by virtue of their steadiness and of the balance of their parts, rise far above such a definition, which is justly applicable to the Toccatas of Claudio Merulo and of Gabrielli.] Frescobaldi placed more confidence in the finger dexterity of his pupils than in their facility with the pedals. To the more apt ones among them were addressed these words: "_Chi questa Bergamasca sonerà, non pocho imparerà_," written at the beginning of his variations upon the popular melody of the "Bergamasca";[21] and, again, at the end of the ninth Toccata in the second book: "_Non senza fatiga si giunge al fine_." [Footnote 21: This theme was again used by G.B. Fasolo (1645) and Fr. A. Scherer. Fasolo's version reminds us of the fugue in _A_ major of J.S. Bach; it runs: [Music]] As examples of another style must also be mentioned the _Pastorale_, or rather the _Capriccio fatto sopra la Pastorale_, the themes of which were borrowed later by Händel from the same popular source from which Frescobaldi obtained them; this caprice has a pedal part, which proves it to have been expressly designed for the organ.[22] [Footnote 22: The Pastorale belongs to the "_Toccate d'intavolatura di Cembalo et organo. Partite di diverse Arie e Correnti, Balletti, Ciacone, Passacagli di Girolamo Frescobaldi. Libro Primo. Stampate l'anno 1637 per Nicolo Borbone in Roma_." It is a reprint of works already published in different volumes.] The picturesque quality reappears in the imitative trumpet-calls in the _Battaglia_, while in the numerous _partite_, or suites upon the _Romanesca_, the _Frescobalda_, the _Aria di Monicha_,[23] the _Aria di Ruggiero_, _Frà Jacopino_,[24] Frescobaldi acceded to the demands of the times for transcriptions and variations upon popular tunes.[25] [Footnote 23: Compare _Soeur Monique_, by F. Couperin.] [Footnote 24: _Frère Jacques_, a popular French tune.] [Footnote 25: This taste was prevalent at the time; Frescobaldi's rival, S. Scheidt, organist at Halle, gives us numerous examples of it: in the first part of the _Tabulatura nova_ (Hamburg, 1624), two Belgian melodies with variations, and the French song, _Es ce Mars_; in the second part, the English tune _de Fortuna_. The _Tabulatura nova_ has been reprinted (_Denkmäler der Tonkunst_).]