The ricercar was one of the more anachronistic of the imitative contrapuntal genres of the seventeenth century. It featured rigorous counterpoint in the archaic style of sixteenth century sacred polyphony. The archaic quality of the genre even appeared in the way the pieces were notated. Composers wrote their ricercares using the old "white note" notation which favored longer note values placing the beat on the half note rather than the quarter note. As an archaic genre, it was also a vehicle for composers to demonstrate their craft and contrapuntal facility against the measuring stick of ancient tradition, much the same as composers in the twentieth century wrote fugues measuring their skills against those in the past. This ricercar is the fifth of the six ricercares in Froberger's Libro Quarto of 1656. It is the most straightforward of all of the ricercares in the collection. It is only in one section and does not include any stretto imitation or any double imitation.

© Andrus Madsen, All Music Guide