Ricercar
A pre-Classical imitative instrumental piece.
What it means
The ricercar is an instrumental piece of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in which one or more themes are introduced in turn in all voices and worked out contrapuntally. The name comes from the Italian word for “to search” and points to the exploring of a theme. In earlier times it also designated free, prelude-like pieces; the imitative meaning became established later.
Musical use
The ricercar counts as the direct forerunner of the fugue. Like it, it leads a theme through the voices, works with stretto, inversion, and augmentation, but is usually calmer in tempo, longer in its themes, and less strict in layout. It often uses several themes in succession, so that sections arise, each working through a new theme. The character is serious and measured; the genre stands close to the vocal polyphony of its time and transfers its manner of writing to keyboard instruments and instrumental ensembles. Even later, composers take up the title to connect with this strict tradition.
Performance practice
Determine first all the thematic entries and mark them; they must be audible without the voice jumping out. Keep the articulation of the theme the same at every occurrence and work on the independence of the voices. Choose a calm tempo and keep it stable, because the effect arises from clarity. On the organ, choose a registration that lets the voices remain audible through, usually principals without overloaded mixtures. Practise difficult passages in pairs.
Bear in mind that ricercars often survive without a fixed scoring indication: they can be performed on keyboard instruments as well as in an instrumental ensemble, and the choice considerably changes the perception of the voices. Decide deliberately. Determine all thematic entries and keep their articulation the same. Bach's Musical Offering contains a three-voice and a six-voice ricercar. Frescobaldi's Fiori musicali of 1635 contain ricercars for liturgical use.
Check whether several themes are worked through in succession, because from this the organization into sections results.