Issue 17 - 20th Century Germans

I'm writing this post so late this week --- most readers probably won't get it until after the weekend... sorry! I spent the afternoon exploring some ideas I have for repertoire for next year... before I knew it, Katie had awoken from her afternoon nap and I hadn't even started [Bookends] for the week!

Very briefly, my prelude this week is the Andante from Paul Hindemith's Second Sonata for Organ. While Hindemith (1895-1963) is a founding father of modernism in music, he is considered neo-classical and paid homage to Bach in his compositions (especially true of his compositions after 1930). Hindemith turned away from the atonal music of his contemporaries, believing that harmony and melody were at the heart of sincere music. The Andante from Sonata II (written in 1937) has to be one of my favorite pieces for organ. It's undeniable that it has what I consider a sterile, German character --- yet the work does not leave the listener parched. While at times the landscape in this piece could remind us of a desert, Hindemith creates a mirage of lush harmonies, directing us to believe our thirst has been quenched.

Paul Hindemith had a complicated life in Nazi-Germany... married to a Jewish woman, yet swore and oath to Hitler... conducted at official Nazi concerts, yet emigrated eventually to the United States. Hopefully I can explore that more in further [Bookends].

My postlude this week is Praeludium by Hermann Schroeder (1904-1984). I decided to pair this with the Hindemith since Schroeder was also German. While Schroeder does not have the weight of influence upon the musical world that Hindemith did, he is indeed an important modern German composer for the organ specifically. Hindemith's neo-classical influence can be seen in Schroeder's works, yet Schroeder was more strongly influenced by ancient Gregorian chant and open harmonies.

(Image: Paul Hindemith)

Issue 16 - Bach as father

The prelude and postludes this Sunday were composed by J. S. Bach and are based on the great German hymn Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr. The hymn can be found in the LBW at 166. In the LBW, the hymn is placed under the section for "The Holy Trinity". (If I'd been in town on June 3rd, I might have played these to go with Holy Trinity Sunday!) But the text truly works well for any time of year. This hymn was the traditional Gloria that was sung during Bach's time. (In our services at St. John's, it would be sung in place of "Now the feast and celebration... " or "This is the feast of victory..."). We call it a "Hymn of Praise" instead of a Gloria.

In honor of Father's Day, I thought it might be fun to focus on J. S. Bach as a father (as opposed to J. S. Bach as the greatest of composer of all-time!). Piecing together surviving documents about Bach paints a delightful picture of his family life.

In an excerpt from disciplinary writings regarding the 21-year-old Bach when he was organist in Arnstadt, we learn of his courtship with his first wife: "Thereupon ask him by what right he recently caused the strange maiden to be invited into the choir loft and let her make music there". Soon after, he marries the previously referred to "young maiden", Maria Barbara Bach (who also happened to be his cousin). They were married thirteen years and had seven children (four of whom survived childhood) before Maria Barbara died in 1720.

A year later, Bach (then 36) married 20-year-old Anna Magdalena who, like Bach, came from a musical family. Her father was the court trumpeter in Weissenfels and her mother's father was also an organist. Anna Magdalena was a fine musician in her own right and assisted Bach in transcribing many of his compositions. Together, they had 13 children - more than half of whom died during childhood.

J. S. Bach boasts about his family in this letter in search of a new job in 1730: "...The children of my second marriage are still small, the eldest, a boy, being six years old. But they are all born musicians, and I can assure you that I can already form an ensemble [made of] both [voices] and [instruments] within my family, particularly since my present wife sings a good, clear soprano, and my eldest daughter, too, joins in not badly."

Johann Nicolaus Forkel (1749-1818) was the first biographer of J. S. Bach and wrote this of Bach's character, "Besides Bach's great merit as so accomplished a performer, composer and teacher of music, he also had the merit of being an excellent father, friend and citizen. His virtues of a father he showed by his care for the education of his children." Bach indeed taught his children well; several, including Carl Phillip Emmanuel, went on to be more famous and prosperous then even Bach was at that time.

Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach wrote this of his father in 1754: "Of his moral character, those may speak who enjoyed association and friendship with him and were witnesses to his uprightness toward God and his neighbor." I can't imagine better praise written about a father by his son!

Happy Father's Day!

(Quotations from "The Bach Reader" edited by Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, 1945)
(Image: “Bach with his Family at the Morning’s Devotion” by Toby Edward Rosenthal)

Issue 15 - Compositions from blind organists

This Sunday's prelude and postlude happen to be by blind organists/composers. Neither of the compositions are based upon or related to the scriptures for this Sunday. However, I thought that occasionally during the long "general" time of summer I would try and work in some compositions that may not necessarily be closely tied to the lectionary.

"Voluntary Op. 5, No. 6" is the prelude this Sunday. John Stanley (1712-1786), the composer, did not have an extensive output of music. However, he did write several of these voluntaries... thirty of them to be exact! These voluntaries are meant to played with a louder and softer (or echo) trumpet stop on the organ, giving them the nickname of Trumpet Voluntaries. This Sunday, you'll hear the solo voice on mixtures instead (with the magnitude of temperature fluctuation this spring, I don't think you'd want to hear the smaller trumpets on the organ right now!)

Stanley was born in London, and though he was about 25 years younger than Handel, they were indeed friends. Stanley's wicked memory gave him ability to direct Handel's oratorios and memorize the accompaniment by hearing it just once (as played by his sister-in-law). Blinded in an accident at age two, Stanley began studying piano at age seven and organ at age nine with Maurice Greene (organist at St. Paul's Cathedral). By age eleven, he was appointed organist at All Hallows. By age seventeen, Stanley became the youngest person ever to obtain the Bachelor of Music degree from Oxford University! The last seven years of Stanley's life may have been his career's crowning achievement as the Master of the King's Musick.

2007 happens to be the centennial birthday of Jean Langlais (1907-1991). I will be playing "Pasticcio" from his Organ Book (1957) as the postlude. Also blinded at age two, Langlais was later sent to the National Institute for the Young Blind in Paris where he began studying organ. 1922, André Marchal noticed the talented Langlais and prepared him to enter Paris Conservatoire. Once admitted, Langlais studied organ with the great organist/composer Marcel Dupré. Continuing to follow in the footsteps of the great French organists, he became organist at St. Clothilde in Paris in 1945 (a post that both César Franck and Charles Tournemire once held).

"Pasticcio" starts out sounding like a medieval fanfare. Just wait though... in a few more measures, you'll begin to hear the modern French writing. The daughter of André Marchal (who discovered and taught improvisation to Langlais) wrote this of "Pasticcio":

"As for the Organ Book, it was written as a wedding gift for me and my husband Giuseppe, and in the last piece, Pasticcio, Langlais managed to use both our names, Jacqueline and Giuseppe, with the Braille system of notation. The fact that the Langlais family lived two doors away from us brought us closer together..."

I hope you'll enjoy these compositions from just a few of the many famous blind composers from whom we've received such great gifts!

(Image: Jean Langlais at the organ console, St. Clothilde)