The Southern Cross Collection: Organ Music by Australian Composers was published by the Society of Organists (Victoria) in August 2009, and marked the final phase of the New Organ Music Awards of 2008. This is the first time any organists’ association in Australia has published an anthology of music by living composers; it is hoped that there will be future collections. Over forthcoming issues of Organ Australia, this column will introduce each piece by giving an overview of the structure, suggestions for registration and clarification of any ambiguous markings.
Mark Viggiani is a Melbourne-based composer with a number of works for choir, orchestra and guitar. Lindemann Variations is Mark’s first work for the organ, and was composed for the New Organ Music Awards in 2008. Mark’s style is characterised by complex rhythmic figurations, and tight control of thematic material. His tonal language is highly modal, and in some ways calls Hindemith to mind. Lindemann Variations was submitted to the ‘free piece’ category of the competition, which stipulated that the work should be conceived for a player of advanced capacities with access to an instrument of at least three manuals.
As the title suggests, this is a set of five variations on the tune ‘Lindemann,’ (Example 1) which can be found in the Australian Hymn Book at number 208(i), where it accompanies some very fine verse by Walter Russell Bowie (1882-1969), sadly not as well known as it ought to be.
Lord Christ, when first you came to men
Upon a cross they bound you,
And mocked your saving kingship then
By thorns with which they crowned you;
And still our wrongs may weave you now
New thorns to pierce that steady brow,
And robe of sorrow round you.
O aweful love which found no room
In life where sin denied you,
And, doomed to death, must bring to doom
The power which crucified you,
Till not a stone was left on stone
And all a nation’s pride o’erthrown
Went down to dust beside you.
New advent of the love of Christ,
Shall we again refuse you,
Till in the night of hate and war
We perish as we lose you?
From old unfaith our souls release
To seek the kingdom of your peace,
By which alone we choose you.
O wounded hands of Jesus, build
In us your new creation;
Our pride is dust, our vaunt is stilled,
We wait your revelation:
O love that triumphs over loss,
We bring our hearts before your cross
To finish your salvation.
This hymn is given in the section “Jesus Christ – His Coming” in the Australian Hymn Book, which makes it particularly suitable for Advent, although it would work equally well for services with themes focussing on discipleship or penitence. The words were written at the request of Dean Dwelly of Liverpool Cathedral (UK) in 1928, and published in Songs of Praise (1931). Bowie wrote that these verses were ‘an effort to express both the solemnity and inspiration of the thought of Christ coming into our modern world in judgement.’ Having said that, don’t let the seasonal flavour of the hymn dictate your choice of Sunday for performing Lindemann Variations.
Because linking the text to the details of the music is a risky business – one is apt to make up a programme, which, while helpful to the individual player, may not have been intended by the composer – I give the text here without any further comment as an aid to those who might embark on the piece. It is sufficient to say that, given that the first line is quoted at the head of the score, the text is the generating idea behind the piece.
The piece opens with a sweeping introduction based on sweeping runs of parallel fourths that resolve into dissonant clusters of interlocking thirds before the theme is presented on a quiet flute, followed by a short recapitulation of the introductory material. The first variation falls into two short sections. The first (bars 33-46) gives part of the theme in a solo registration in the upper part against pedal points and commentary in the accompanying manual and pedal. The second section (bars 47-64) reunites the whole texture on one manual, with imitative voice play leading into a series of hemiolas which serve to bring the variation to a crunching halt on an inverted seventh chord.
The second variation is highly reminiscent of the bicinium from Bach’s partita on Sei gegrüβet, Jesu [BWV 768], albeit with a pedal part added in. Where the piece has been in compound metres up to this point – combinations of 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 – this variation is in 4/4. The theme is presented in a solo colour over the angular and restless texture set up in the left hand and pedal.
The third variation is a rocking 3/4 lullaby – it could even be a sarabande, given the constant emphasis on the second beat of the bar – where the right hand and pedal (using a 4’ stop) join in a duet. In learning the piece, I found it hard to decide whether the feeling of this variation is plaintive or hypnotic, with its harmonic oscillations around D. It could serve as a short interlude on its own, and being the easiest part of the piece, would work well for a return procession after the gospel, although it might be wise to warn the preacher in advance.
Variation four wakes player and listener alike with a jolt: compound metre, 6/8, is back and the flavour of this variation is somewhat closer to a scherzo after the sleepy atmosphere of the previous variation. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this variation is that the pedals work in 3/4, although notated across the 6/8 metre. This looks ambiguous on the page, especially given the frequent voice crossings between left hand and pedal in the lowest octave of the keyboard: this must be articulated very carefully to avoid muddiness and any distortion of the player’s sense of the pulse. Along with the velocity of the tempo, the dissonance gathers density as the variation proceeds until it dissolves into descending runs of semiquavers. The variation ends with a series of hemiolas and semiquaver runs, and finally a short pedal solo that links to the final variation.
Variation five, which returns to simple metre (2/2), lands us back in the world of Sei gegrüβet, with a large-scale harmonisation of the theme hammered out over a thundering pedal point. Unlike Bach’s treatment of his chorale (five-part harmonisation), this variation is more a working out of thematic fragments. The ending of the piece is indefinite, even abrupt, and answers approximately to the last lines of the hymn.
Mark has included full performance instructions in the score, but these require considerable interpretation to be realised convincingly on a range of instruments. The general aesthetic calls for registrations along neo-Baroque lines (in the 1960s application of the term!): if you go for spiky upperwork and fluty foundations, you can’t go far wrong. The dynamic markings can be interpreted as relating to use of the swell box or terraced dynamics – the latter is my preferred solution. Many of the stop combinations are unworkable, as most of the stops requested are found in the departments specified on a very small number of instruments. Thinking more generically, solo colours such as the sesquialtera, cornet, krummhorn and trumpet cover most of the solo sections; where pedal reeds are available at 4’, this is a useful possibility for variation four. Chorus combinations should include high mixtures in the louder variations.
While the piece was composed with three manuals in mind, it can be performed effectively on two manuals. Most of the suggested dispositions of parts work, with the exception of variation one, which should be played with two manuals throughout (don’t follow the manual changes specified), and variation four, which gains clarity by being played on one manual throughout. In the fifth variation (bars 209-21), where a direction is given for a solo part on the positive/choir, the composer might have specified the left hand moving to the swell; in a two manual performance the left hand should move to a secondary manual, leaving the right hand on the great. Likewise, at bar 222 the texture clearly calls for a return to the great, which is not indicated in the score. The manual directions for the coda should be followed, along with scaling back the registration from full organ to something quite soft.
The Southern Cross Collection: Organ Music by Australian Composers is available from the Society of Organists (Victoria) Inc. To download an order form, visit www.sov.org.au
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