Toccata per Organo 9 in C

Little is known about the Portuguese composer Francisco Xavier Baptista, who lived in Lisbon in the second half of the 18th century other than that he was first organist at the cathedral of St. Mary in Lisbon and that he died in 1797.

Few of his works have been published; only his harpsichord sonatas and a Modinha for two voices and harpsichord.

Baptista called the pieces Toccata’s, but in fact they are two-part sonatas.

While the music is simple, even childish at times, with a distinct "music box" feel to some of the pieces, there is something compelling about its simplicity.

All the sonatas, except one, follow a basic two-movement binary form (the remaining sonata, number 12, being just one movement), recalling the sonatas of his fellow Portuguese composer Carlos Seixas or the Italian Domenico Scarlatti.
Performance: Live