In several cases Frescobaldi gives us hints as to the execution of his works: "music in this style is not to be performed with invariable strictness of tempo...." he says in the preface to the second volume of toccatas, etc.[26] (1637). "It should be played slowly at the beginning, and in an arpeggiated manner, the tempo then being gradually accelerated. The end of a trill or phrase should be marked by the prolongation of the last note, that one phrase may be separated from the other. Cadences, even though written in short notes, should be retarded more and more toward the end.... If it be necessary to play a trill in one hand against a phrase in the other, the trill should be performed not note against note with the passage in the other hand, but independently; the phrase being played with repose and expression. Passages in eighth- or sixteenth-notes written for both hands must not be taken at a too rapid tempo; of two sixteenth-notes the second should always be slightly dwelt upon. In quick passages for two hands, hold back a little upon the next to the last beat; then finish brilliantly, displaying the agility of the hand. For the Partitas, which are characterized by expressive subjects, it will be well to adopt a broad tempo, as well as for the Toccatas; such of the latter as are not too exacting in their demands upon technique maybe taken faster; here the choice of tempi is left to the ready discernment and good taste of the performer...." [Footnote 26: Previous editions are dated 1614 and 1616. Each of these directions, addressed "al lettore," is preceded by its number, according to order; there are no less than nine of them.] We perceive that Frescobaldi demanded the same qualities of imagination for the performance of his works that he exercised in their composition. They are, in fact, an example of a continual _rubato_. In the preface to the first book of caprices he gives us similar directions; adding: "movements in 3/1 and 6/2 should be taken _adagio_ (he wrote _adasio_); those in 3/2 a little faster, those in 3/4 _allegro_." He also charges the performer to conform to the style of his works; serious in the Ricercatas, more brilliant in the Caprices. "Frescobaldi marks one of the turning-points in the evolution of Music, and is himself the personification of the successful and unsuccessful endeavors, of the victories and defeats, of these periods of transition. His works, upon which is imprinted the stamp of genius, appear as classics in comparison with the inefficient products of that reign of Monody.... That with one hand they point backward to a great Art-epoch just terminated, while with the other they point forward to the hopeful future of a new Musical Art, lends to them an individual and wondrous charm."