Martin Stacey

NOTES ON THE MUSIC

The German Romantic Tradition

Influences from outside the Church made a major impact on the development of organ style and repertoire in nineteenth century Germany. An increasing reassessment of the work of J.S. Bach, combined with musical influence from popular opera and the dominance of orchestral symphonic forms, resulted in the nineteenth century organ being lead into new and colourful areas of expression. The organ could never be expected to exactly imitate the flexibility of sounds, accents and dynamics of the classical/romantic orchestra. But, as we can hear in the First Sonata from Mendelssohn's collection of Six Organ Sonatas of 1845, a new richness of sound is created as imaginative textures and imitations of many instrumental tones and colours are developed. Listen out for Mendelssohn's dramatic use of the famous Chorale melody Our God our Help on Ages Past in the first movement of this splendid work which was published just two years before the composer died.   

Schumann composed his Six Studies in Canon form in the same year as Mendelssohn wrote his Sonata. Robert Schumann and his wife Clara were staying in Dresden where they found the atmosphere musically dull. Schumann spent much of his time teaching Clara musical counterpoint, and procured a pedal piano (an instrument with a pedal-board attachment) in order to practice and demonstrate the complexities of organ fugues and canons. These highly original six pieces are no doubt the result of many hours spent at the keyboard of this unique instrument. 

Max Reger (1873-1917) was born in Bavaria, and was a contemporary of Strauss and Mahler. It has been said that in Max Reger the cult of the monumental in romantic organ writing reaches a climax! Certainly we see in Reger's distinctly original style a form which seems to combine the virtuosity of Liszt with the neo-classical beauty of Brahms. His compositions (many for piano as well as for organ) often bear baroque titles: 'Prelude' or 'Toccata and Fugue', 'Passacaglia', and 'Chorale Prelude'. To organists, Reger is not only known for contributing some of the most dynamically powerful compositions for the instrument, but for encouraging and influencing another tour-de-force of the organ: Sigfid Karg-Elert.

Hear Reger's wonderful treatment of the theme of the English national anthem in his Variations and Fugue on "Heil dir im Siegerkranz". 

 J.S.Bach

 In 1739 Bach finally finished his largest collection of keyboard works, the Clavier-Ubung ('Keybord Studies') for organ. The collection as a whole, written when Bach was employed in Leipzig, employs a free use of chorale melodies, and contains large-scale woks for church organ alongside smaller-scale ones for domestic purposes.

Bach's famous C minor Fantasia and Fugue has become all the more familiar since the publication in 1922 of a splendidly full-blooded arrangement for orchestra by Sir Edward Elgar.   

Mozart - Andante in F major

All that is known of Mozart's little Andante in F major is that it written in Vienna and dated 1791, the year that Mozart died. It was composed for the once immensely popular Mechanical Organ. These highly prized and decorated instruments graced many of the courts of Europe and had their origin in the era of the Byzantium Empire.

(The endeavour to create sound by mechanical means, without the intervention of man, can be traced to the remote past.) But by the middle of the eighteenth century, flute-playing organs, and musical clocks with intricate and exquisite cases, were extremely popular. Composers of the day, including Haydn, Mozart, and CPE Bach, were called on to write for them.   

Moszkowski - Spanish Dances

German pianist and composer, Moritz Moszkowski, was born in 1854, and is almost exclusively known for his highly characteristic Spanische Tanze for piano duet. In two volumes, these suitably exotic pieces were eventually arranged also for solo piano. Tonight we shall hear six of these picturesque dances arranged for the organ by Martin Stacey.

Programme notes compiled by Peter Case of South Holland Concerts

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