What does the word "Toccata" mean?
Q: What does the word "Toccata" mean?
A: The word “Toccata” comes from the Italian for “to touch”, which also means to play a musical instrument.
Q: Who were some of the first composers to write Toccatas?
A: The first Toccatas were written in northern Italy by composers such as Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni Gabrieli.
Q: What type of instruments are Toccatas typically written for?
A: Toccatas are pieces for the keyboard (harpsichord or organ) with lots of running scales in the right hand and accompanying chords in the left hand.
Q: Who wrote one of the most famous Baroque organ music pieces, a Toccata and Fugue in D minor?
A: Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which is one of the most famous pieces of Baroque organ music, and perhaps the most famous toccata ever written.
Q: Who popularized writing Toccatas again during the late 19th century?
A: The French organ composers popularized writing toccatas again during the late 19th century, such as Charles-Marie Widor whose Toccata from his Symphony No. 5 is very popular today.
Q: What 20th century composer wrote several piano toccatas?
A: In the 20th century several composers wrote toccatas for piano including Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Ravel (part of Le Tombeau de Couperin) and Claude Debussy (part of Suite Pour le Piano).
