28 March 2016
11 March 2016
Organ music for the Fifth Sunday in Lent
Prelude
An Wasserflüssen Babylon [BWV 653b]– J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Postlude
Aus Teifer Noth [BWV 686] – J.S. Bach
In the final decade of his life, Bach prepared a collection of eighteen chorale preludes from a body of material originally composed in the years 1710-1714. It is thought by a number of Bach's modern biographers that this was part of a wider project in which Bach created an encyclopaedic body of the chorale preludes in the form of publications (Clavierübung III, published 1739, and the six 'Schubler' chorales, published 1748) and collections in manuscript (Orgelbüchlein, the eighteen 'Leipzig' chorales) which together represented Bach's mastery of the full diversity of styles and compositional techniques for this genre of organ music. In these chorales Bach was engaging in a double retrospective view. First, he was looking back to the compositional methods of previous generations while demonstrating his awareness of newer ideas. Second, he was looking back at his own development as an acknowledged master of his art and selecting what he understood to be his best work.
Today we will hear two chorale settings from this late-life project. Both chorales have a retrospective character by calling for double-pedalling, where each foot plays a fully-developed independent part, which evoked Bach's predecessors in the German virtuoso organ tradition. Each chorale is based on a Lutheran paraphrase from the Psalms, and it is worth noting that these seem to be the only chorales Bach set with a double-pedal part. Another features of these chorale settings is the use of imitative counterpoint, where the accompanying parts prefigure each phrase of the chorale melody before it is played on the solo stop.
An Wasserflüssen Babylon sets a chorale based on Psalm 137, By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered you, O Jerusalem. This chorale is an earlier version of the setting in the final copy of the Leipzig chorales, and differs very significantly from the final version included in modern editions. This psalm of exile and lament speaks of the inability of the Jewish exiles to sing the songs of Zion in Babylon, and in Luther's paraphrase it inspired settings from composers prior to Bach that made use of double pedalling: a famous example is a fantasia by Johann Adam Reincken (1643-1722), which inspired Bach around the time he composed this chorale prelude. Each line of the chorale is anticipated before the entry of the solo stop, while the steady quaver movement of the accompaniment evokes the flowing water of the Euphrates.
Aus Teifer Noth is based on Luther's paraphrase of Psalm 130, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee. Bach published this setting as part of Clavierübung III in 1739, where it stands at the centre of a series of settings of liturgical and catechetical chorales. Aus Tiefer Noth is cast in six parts, two for each hand and two for the pedals, with the chorale melody placed in the upper pedal part. Each phrase of the chorale is anticipated by the accompanying parts, and leads to a wide variety of melodic shapes that convey the sense of lament, and the passage of the voice of prayer to God.
An Wasserflüssen Babylon [BWV 653b]– J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Postlude
Aus Teifer Noth [BWV 686] – J.S. Bach
In the final decade of his life, Bach prepared a collection of eighteen chorale preludes from a body of material originally composed in the years 1710-1714. It is thought by a number of Bach's modern biographers that this was part of a wider project in which Bach created an encyclopaedic body of the chorale preludes in the form of publications (Clavierübung III, published 1739, and the six 'Schubler' chorales, published 1748) and collections in manuscript (Orgelbüchlein, the eighteen 'Leipzig' chorales) which together represented Bach's mastery of the full diversity of styles and compositional techniques for this genre of organ music. In these chorales Bach was engaging in a double retrospective view. First, he was looking back to the compositional methods of previous generations while demonstrating his awareness of newer ideas. Second, he was looking back at his own development as an acknowledged master of his art and selecting what he understood to be his best work.
Today we will hear two chorale settings from this late-life project. Both chorales have a retrospective character by calling for double-pedalling, where each foot plays a fully-developed independent part, which evoked Bach's predecessors in the German virtuoso organ tradition. Each chorale is based on a Lutheran paraphrase from the Psalms, and it is worth noting that these seem to be the only chorales Bach set with a double-pedal part. Another features of these chorale settings is the use of imitative counterpoint, where the accompanying parts prefigure each phrase of the chorale melody before it is played on the solo stop.
An Wasserflüssen Babylon sets a chorale based on Psalm 137, By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered you, O Jerusalem. This chorale is an earlier version of the setting in the final copy of the Leipzig chorales, and differs very significantly from the final version included in modern editions. This psalm of exile and lament speaks of the inability of the Jewish exiles to sing the songs of Zion in Babylon, and in Luther's paraphrase it inspired settings from composers prior to Bach that made use of double pedalling: a famous example is a fantasia by Johann Adam Reincken (1643-1722), which inspired Bach around the time he composed this chorale prelude. Each line of the chorale is anticipated before the entry of the solo stop, while the steady quaver movement of the accompaniment evokes the flowing water of the Euphrates.
Aus Teifer Noth is based on Luther's paraphrase of Psalm 130, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee. Bach published this setting as part of Clavierübung III in 1739, where it stands at the centre of a series of settings of liturgical and catechetical chorales. Aus Tiefer Noth is cast in six parts, two for each hand and two for the pedals, with the chorale melody placed in the upper pedal part. Each phrase of the chorale is anticipated by the accompanying parts, and leads to a wide variety of melodic shapes that convey the sense of lament, and the passage of the voice of prayer to God.
04 March 2016
Organ music for the Third Sunday in Lent
Prelude
Ruhig Bewegt from Sonata II – Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Attende, Domine – Jeanne Demessieux (1921-68)
Postlude
Lebhaft from Sonata II – Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Paul Hindemith was a musician, composer and music educator who lived and worked in Germany, Turkey and the United States of America. Hindemith had an uneasy relationship with the Nazi government – his music was denounced in 1934, and Hindemith was concerned for the safety of his wife, who was Jewish – which led him to seek postings in Turkey (where he established the Ankara conservatorium) and ultimately to emigrate to the USA in 1940. Hindemith wrote three organ sonatas during the years 1937 and 1940, each one expressing his deep affinity with German music traditions. Sonata II explores classical sonata idiom, and has affinities with the style of the late-eighteenth century. The Sonata is cast in three movements, of which we will hear the first two today.
The second movement, Ruhig Bewegt (peaceful but with movement), is an aria. This piece alternates between the manuals, giving contrast between smaller and larger combinations.
The first movement, Lebhaft (lively), which we will hear as the postlude today, has a cyclical pattern where the main theme punctuates the musical rhetoric. While the form is conventional, the harmony is notable for containing numerous unexpected turns. There is a parallel in Hindemith's pattern of modulations in this piece with Bach's St Matthew Passion, where increasingly sharp key signatures mark Jesus' journey to the cross (in German the same word is used for both the musical and religious sign, kreuz).
Jeanne Demessieux was one of the most important organists of the mid-twentieth century in France. After studies with Marcel Dupré, Demessieux went on to hold academic posts in Paris, Nancy and Liège, and held organist posts in Paris at Saint-Esprit (in the 12th arrondissment) and La Madeleine. Demessieux was widely active as a recitalist and recording artist, and like her teacher she was able to play more than 1,000 pieces from memory. It is said that she was challenged to re-learn her entire repertoire in order to play the pedal parts wearing stiletto heels (ie: to play the pedal parts using only toes); Demessieux's technical pieces certainly bear witness to a dazzling technique.
Today we will hear a paraphrase on the Lent prose, Attende, Domine, for which you can find the melody and text in the New English Hymnal (507). In this piece, Demessieux explores the modal possibilities of the chant. The piece maintains a steady texture with five voices consistently present, and the highly contrapuntal compositional method produces surprising clashes that give a sense of tension and release in the inner voices. Demessieux specifies that the registration is the fonds, a combination of stops that has a rich flavour on the instruments she knew (the combination is made up of all the 8' stops, including stops with names such as Flute, Gamba, Diapason/Montre, and Bourdon). Fonds conveys a sense of expansiveness and calm. Here we find a world of surprising possibilities, an opening of the door of mercy.
Ruhig Bewegt from Sonata II – Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Attende, Domine – Jeanne Demessieux (1921-68)
Postlude
Lebhaft from Sonata II – Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Paul Hindemith was a musician, composer and music educator who lived and worked in Germany, Turkey and the United States of America. Hindemith had an uneasy relationship with the Nazi government – his music was denounced in 1934, and Hindemith was concerned for the safety of his wife, who was Jewish – which led him to seek postings in Turkey (where he established the Ankara conservatorium) and ultimately to emigrate to the USA in 1940. Hindemith wrote three organ sonatas during the years 1937 and 1940, each one expressing his deep affinity with German music traditions. Sonata II explores classical sonata idiom, and has affinities with the style of the late-eighteenth century. The Sonata is cast in three movements, of which we will hear the first two today.
The second movement, Ruhig Bewegt (peaceful but with movement), is an aria. This piece alternates between the manuals, giving contrast between smaller and larger combinations.
The first movement, Lebhaft (lively), which we will hear as the postlude today, has a cyclical pattern where the main theme punctuates the musical rhetoric. While the form is conventional, the harmony is notable for containing numerous unexpected turns. There is a parallel in Hindemith's pattern of modulations in this piece with Bach's St Matthew Passion, where increasingly sharp key signatures mark Jesus' journey to the cross (in German the same word is used for both the musical and religious sign, kreuz).
Jeanne Demessieux was one of the most important organists of the mid-twentieth century in France. After studies with Marcel Dupré, Demessieux went on to hold academic posts in Paris, Nancy and Liège, and held organist posts in Paris at Saint-Esprit (in the 12th arrondissment) and La Madeleine. Demessieux was widely active as a recitalist and recording artist, and like her teacher she was able to play more than 1,000 pieces from memory. It is said that she was challenged to re-learn her entire repertoire in order to play the pedal parts wearing stiletto heels (ie: to play the pedal parts using only toes); Demessieux's technical pieces certainly bear witness to a dazzling technique.
Today we will hear a paraphrase on the Lent prose, Attende, Domine, for which you can find the melody and text in the New English Hymnal (507). In this piece, Demessieux explores the modal possibilities of the chant. The piece maintains a steady texture with five voices consistently present, and the highly contrapuntal compositional method produces surprising clashes that give a sense of tension and release in the inner voices. Demessieux specifies that the registration is the fonds, a combination of stops that has a rich flavour on the instruments she knew (the combination is made up of all the 8' stops, including stops with names such as Flute, Gamba, Diapason/Montre, and Bourdon). Fonds conveys a sense of expansiveness and calm. Here we find a world of surprising possibilities, an opening of the door of mercy.
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