Preludes & Postludes
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Prelude
Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book): Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (Dearest Jesus, we are here), BWV 633
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
The Orgelbüchlein is a set of 46 chorale preludes for organ — one of them, BWV 633, in two versions. All but three were written between 1708 and 1717 when Bach served as organist to the ducal court in Weimar; the remainder and a short two-bar fragment came no earlier than 1726, after the composer’s appointment as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
Bach's apparent plan was for a collection of 164 settings of chorale tunes sung during the Church year so that each part of the year was represented. However, only 46 of these were completed. The manuscript leaves a number of tunes as missing or "ghost" pieces. These have been added in the 21st century; this project took nine hours in the first complete performance, giving an idea of the potential scope of Bach's "little" book. The Orgelbüchlein as Bach left it contains about 80 minutes of music which span the liturgical calendar.
Each setting takes a Lutheran chorale, adds a motivic accompaniment, and quite freely explores form. Many of the preludes are short and use four contrapuntal voices. All have a pedal part, some requiring only a single keyboard and pedal, with an unadorned cantus firmus. Others involve two keyboards and pedal. These include several canons, four ornamental four-part preludes with elaborately decorated chorale lines, and one prelude in trio sonata form.
We'll look forward to hearing more of these and other works from Bach, the father of the organ.
Postlude
Prelude FROM Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543
J.S. Bach
At times, a prelude may serve also as a splendid postude. This prelude features a free toccata with pedal flourishes toward the double bar. This is a "practical" choice in light of other tasks this week. Often, organists have very limited time to prepare and will choose something already in their repertoire, something improvised (usually on a hymn of the week), or something new which can be learned in a few hours. In such instances, one should always broaden repertoire. The fugue from BWV 543 is next step in this process and will like make an appearance in coming months.
This piece calls for organo pleno which basically means principal chorus: 8', 4', nazard, 2' + conservative mixtures and reeds in at least two coupled manuals (preferably Chorus). 16' manual stops should be avoided unless you elect a low mixture. I often will add 8' and 4' flutes on neo-Baroque narrowly scaled instruments for gravity. Any registration should always consider above all the clarity of the polyphony, and this is true of almost every note Bach wrote.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Prelude
Choraleworks - Ten Chorale Preludes for Organ, Set 1. 9: Herzliebster Jesu (1995)
Gerald Near (b. 1942)
This piece, short and contemplative - really, suitable for Lent - also features a tune written by Johann Crüger in the early seventeenth century, the likes of which I often introduce on a solo reed such as Krummhorn or Cornet with improvised harmoziation. I have also played many of Near's other chorale preludes recently at SJB, including his settings of Mit Freuden Zart, Westminster Abbey, Nun Danket Alle Gott, Moscow, and for OT25B this year, Erhalt Uns, Herr. Many of these settings are experimental and contrasting, offering a wonderful play-out to the final verse of a hymn.
Postlude
Six Organ Pieces, H.56. 3: Allegro marziale e ben marcato (1905)
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Bridge would have undoubtedly been familiar with "Father" Willis, an organ builder who shaped British worship during the Victorian era. His organs are renowned for their orchestral sound which originated from pipes designed to imitate orchestral instruments. Although the Schantz at SJB does not feature a Diapason proper, the equivalent of one may be acquired by combining the Salicional on Swell and the Viola on Choir in addition to Great principal chorus for gravity, giving it a British "accent" and complimenting the ceremonial nature of many of this movement's dotted rhythms.
In coming weeks, or perhaps for an improtant liturgical occasion, I will prepare The Crown Imperial by one of Bridge's contemporaries, William Walton, written for the coronation of the ill-fated reign of King Edward VIII in 1937.
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Prelude
Triptych on "The Ash Grove": Adagio (1999)
David Cherwien (b. 1957)
This piece is an album in three movements: Adagio, Trio, and Toccata, with intonation and hymn harmonization. I have chosen this piece for two reasons: a) our Sending Forth this week is, in fact, Let All Things Now Living (ASHGROVE, a Welsh folk tune) and b) my memory of David Cherwien goes back to the 2016 Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Houston, TX at which Cherwien played a recital at St. Luke's United Methodist Church. I have not yet heard anything since, including arm clusters and flashy displays of virtuosity all blended into a seamless whole. Cherwien is one in a line of inspiring Lutheran organists and composers, such as Michael Burkhardt, who deliver innovative and inspiring ambassadorship of the art. This movement offers two contrasting sections in trifold alternation, one a gentle concertante dialogue between 8' and 4' flutes and the other a beautiful B section with prepared strings.
Postlude
Triptych on "The Ash Grove": Toccata (1999)
D. Cherwien
The final movement of this Triptych send us forth on a terraced and joyful dance, adorned by colorful jazz-inspired chords. This is a wonderful display of concise composition and a supurb addition to any organist's toccata catalog.
Videos
Families of the organ, console features, hymnody: Lord, You Give the Great Commission (ABBOT'S LEIGH)
"Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist" ("Come, God Creator, Holy Ghost") is a Lutheran hymn for Pentecost, with words written by Martin Luther based on the Latin "Veni Creator Spiritus". The hymn in seven stanzas was first published in 1524. Bach composed chorale preludes on the hymn as BWV 631 in the Orgelbüchlein and as BWV 667 in the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes. The hymn has been translated and has appeared with the hymn tune in several hymnals. This makes for a wonderful postlude to the Church's celebration of Pentecost.
This movement of Mendelssohn's first organ sonata (1845) is written in toccata style. Mendelssohn gives registration instructions in his preface to Op. 65. In this movement, ff (fortissimo, very loud) is indicated. According to Mendelssohn, this means plenum plus reeds. My interpretation employs terrace dynamics (soft-ish gradually to full) and does not increase to reeds until about a third into the piece. The Op. 65 sonatas, and many other organ works of Mendelssohn, were written for instruments and acoustics of the Leipzig school with much reverb and limited access to complicated registration. I, therefore, prefer a more conservative approach. Mendelssohn, although an early Romatic composer, was also conservative in his outlook and interested in the forms and compositional styles of previous composers. He was a gifted composer of counterpoint, which he employed masterfully in many of his compositions. Sometimes he expresses the harmonic language of the Romantic Period in the grammar of the Baroque; at other times, especially in his fugues, his music sounds almost wholly Baroque, reminiscent of Bach. His organ sonatas are not written in Sonata Allegro form, but are instead collections of varying pieces, using the title "Sonata" similarly to the way it was used by Bach.
Having studied with Charles Villers Stanford and having taught Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge focused rather unconventionally on aesthetic issues, idiomatic writing, and clarity, rather than exhaustive technical training. Britten was noted to have said of his teacher as late as 1963 that he still felt he had not "yet come up to the technical standards" that Bridge had set for him. The Three Pieces for Organ sit rather early in Bridge's oeuvre and the second movement, the famous and beautiful Adagio in E, is an iconic example of British craftsmanship, subtlety, and complexity.
Dr. Benjamin Cornelius-Bates is currently assistant professor of musicianship at Duquesne University and an accomplished Fellow of the American Guild of Organists. He is also organist and Director of Music Ministries at St. Paul of the Cross Monastery in Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Cornelius-Bates completed his Doctorate in composition at West Virginia University, studying with Dr. Matthew Heap, Dr. David Taddie, and Dr. Joseph Dangerfield. As an improviser, he was a semi-finalist at the 2011 André Marchal International Improvisation Competition held in Biarritz, France and was invited to the 2013 Arthur Piechler Improvisation Competition held in Landau, Germany. Dr. Cornelius-Bates competed in the 2015 Improvisation Competition held at the 55th Annual Conference on Organ Music at the University of Michigan. Lately, he has been exploring more avant-garde improvisations in a series titled Evening Improvisations found on his YouTube site. I have often turned to pieces like this as exemplars of experimental improvisation. Organists are known as the classical world's improvisors. These few movements from the Lenten Improvisations demonstrate sophisticated aesthetics within the context of the Catholic Liturgy.