affetti

In Frescobaldi's toccatas, \"affetti\" designates the meditative, harmonically dense, slow-moving sections that alternate with the faster passaggi (running passages) and contrapuntal bursts. These sections are characterised by sustained dissonances (durezze), expressive suspensions, chromatic voice-leading, and a quality of inward contemplation — the musical equivalent of the Baroque doctrine of the \"passions of the soul.\" Frescobaldi writes in his Avvertimenti (preface to Toccate I): \"The beginning of a toccata should be played slowly and arpeggiando... the passages which appear in the middle of a piece should be played according to the emotion [affetto] which the music requires.\"

When you reach an affetto section — recognisable by a sudden slowing of note-values, sustained harmonies, and a denser chromatic texture — change your touch, tempo, and tone decisively. The passaggio before it may have been brilliant and fast; the affetto must feel genuinely slower and more inward. Do not hold a strict pulse; let the dissonances ring and resolve expressively. The affetto is the emotional core of the toccata, not an interlude.