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A ricercar (/ˌriːtʃərˈkɑːr/ REE-chər-KAR, Italian: [ritʃerˈkar]) or ricercare (/ˌriːtʃərˈkɑːreɪ/ REE-chər-KAR-ay, Italian: [ritʃerˈkaːre]) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ricercar derives from the Italian verb ricercare, which means "to search out; to seek"; many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece. A ricercar may explore the permutations of a given motif, and in that regard may follow the piece used as illustration. The term is also used to designate an etude or study that explores a technical device in playing an instrument, or singing.
In its most common contemporary usage, it refers to an early kind of fugue, particularly one of a serious character in which the subject uses long note values. However, the term has a considerably more varied historical usage.
Among the best-known ricercars are the two for harpsichord contained in Bach's The Musical Offering and Domenico Gabrielli's set of seven for solo cello. The latter set contains what are considered to be some of the earliest pieces for solo cello ever written.[1]
- ^ Burgess Powell, Jemma. A performing edition of Gabrielli's 7 Ricercari for Violoncello Solo, with an historical investigation and recommendations for performance (PDF) (Thesis). p. 10.