Toccata Toccata Toccata (from Italian "toccare", literally, "to touch") is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments (the opening of Claudio Monteverdi's opera "L'Orfeo" being a notable example). The form first appeared in the late Renaissance period. It originated in northern Italy. Several publications of the 1590s include toccatas, by composers such as Claudio Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli,
Toccata for Toy Trains models. Eames says the modern era has lost the art of toymaking in the attempt to have "a perfect little copy of the real thing". Toccata for Toy Trains Toccata for Toy Trains is a 1957 short film by Charles and Ray Eames, one of several films (including "Powers of Ten", made many years later) the husband-and-wife design team made during their career. "Toccata for Toy Trains" is also the title of the instrumental music composed for the film by Elmer Bernstein, a frequent collaborator on the Eames films. The film features mostly antique toy trains moving within fanciful settings