Issue 26 - Wake, awake!

In 1731, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote cantata 140, Wachet Auf, ruft uns die stimme. Approximately fifteen years later, he took the fourth movement from it, grouped it together with 5 other movements from various cantatas, and transcribed them for organ solo. They were published by Johann Georg Schübler and have been nicknamed "The Schübler Chorales". The prelude this Sunday, Wake, awake (Wachet auf) is the first in the set. You'll hear the solo hymn melody (ELW 436, verse 2) in the left hand on a trumpet stop (in the cantata, this line would have been sung by the tenors). The right hand and pedal imitate the string orchestra accompaniment.

Albert Schweitzer, a pivotal historian in the interpretation of Bach's music, beautifully illuminates the music in this quote: "[The movement] is dominated by a simple dance melody. With this the chorale melody is combined dissonantly, as if it had nothing to do with it; the cry of the watchman strikes into the music of the procession that is drawing nigh with the bridegroom. In order that this may have its proper rural quality, it is written for the strings in unison, with an accompaniment in the contrabasses."

If you love the music of Advent as much as I do, I invite you to join me this Thursday, December 6th, at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul (815 High Street, Des Moines) at 12:10 for an organ recital of Advent music. If you're not the type to attend organ concerts, I encourage you to give it a try - just this once! Not only will it be great music - but I think you'll enjoy hearing the organ at St. Paul's which is built in a French style (in contrast to our organ at St. John's which is modeled in a German style). Not all organs are alike - and it's a real delight that in Des Moines there are such a great variety of wonderful instruments to hear and play. Hope to see you there!

(Image: Bach's seal: how many times can you find his initials?)

Issue 25 - The Musicians of St. Clotilde

This week's prelude and postlude are from organists who make up the rich legacy of musicians at St. Clotilde Basilica in Paris. By European standards, St. Clotilde is a relatively new church, its neo-Gothic structure completed just in 1857. The first organist at St. Clotilde was the father of French Romantic organ music: César Franck, who was inspired by the church's new Cavaillé-Coll orchestral-style organ to take French organ music in a new orchestral direction that was a complete departure from the past.

During Franck's tenure at St. Clotilde, Théodore Dubois (1837-1924) was choirmaster during the 1870's. (You may know Dubois' most beloved composition, The Seven Last Word of Christ.) This Sunday's postlude, the Toccata in G, is among the most well-known of his organ works. It's a very typical French Romantic toccata and parts of it might even remind you of Widor's Toccata from Symphonie V (which was composed ten years before Dubois'). Dubois opens with a lively toccata - however, the development section that follows is a clever juxtaposition between a lyrical hymn on the swell and the toccata material on the great. Dubois then reintroduces the toccata and closes the piece with a triumphant hymn.

Jean Langlais became organist at St. Clotilde in 1945, nearly sixty years after Franck's death. Langlais is definitely a "modern" composer and while his works might not be tonal in the Classical sense, they never cross over into the atonal either. I personally have a great affection for Langlais' music - it has a personality unto itself that is quite playful and his more dramatic compositions, while skeletal in nature, have a depth that really captivates me.

The prelude this Sunday (by Jean Langlais) is Chant de Paix (Song of Peace) from his Neuf Pièces pour Orgue. The collection was written in 1943 in the midst of World War II and also contains Chant Héroïque which was an homage to his friend Jehan Alain (famous French organist and composer) who was killed in battle as a French soldier. The Song of Peace is slow with an ascending legato melody that is traded between the pedal and right hand. The melody slowly rises in large, deliberate leaps and finally ends on a major triad that holds for, well, a long time - Langlais literally writes "long" above the final chord, thus indicating that the resolved chord should keep its peaceful tone reverberating in the sanctuary for as long as possible.

(Image: St. Clotilde Basilica, Paris)

Issue 24 - The French Classical

If ever there was a musician to bask in the radiant wealth of the Sun King, it most certainly would be Louis Marchand (1669-1732), composer of this week's postlude. Appointed organiste du roi in 1708, Marchand dazzled not only Versailles and Paris with his virtuoso technique, but later toured Germany –thus impressing a young Bach at Weimar in 1713. Unfortunately, Marchand’s reputation would be eternally scarred four years later when he was invited to a musical challenge with Bach in Dresden; it was reported that Marchand, intimidated by his competitor’s prowess, fled Dresden before the contest to avoid embarrassment. Another happening which questions Marchand’s artistic taste was his promotion of his pupil, Daquin, to receive the organist post at St. Vincent-de-Paul – a faux-pas, considering that Rameau (a more favorable musician and composer) was also in contest for the post.

While Marchand’s seemingly arrogant attitude did not serve him well in history’s pages, the Dialogue in C Major certainly proves his craft. The piece opens with a triumphant fanfare on the Grand Jeu (a chorus of boisterous reed stops), after which ensues an actual “dialogue.” First, a call and answer between the Trompette in the dessus (right hand) and the Trompette in the basse (left hand). Second, a statement and echo from a chorus of Trompettes to the distant reeds on the swell. Marchand closes the piece with a lively gigue and a final fanfare. (This piece is about 9 minutes - so I cut several sections out for the postlude to shorten it!)

Although the birth year of Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703) nearly coincides with Marchand’s, these two composers’ output could not be more contrasting. Both composers utilized the same building blocks to create their music: pieces that accentuated the grandeur and subtleties of the French Classical organ… trios of flutes, basse de trompettes and dialogues on the superbly balanced manuals of the organ. But these traditional forms marked a breaking point for the young de Grigny – only twenty-nine years of age when his only works were published in his Premier livre d’orgue. It is in his five hymnes for organ that his highly innovative writing shows its majesty – his subtle use of the plainchant melodies in the hymn movements and his complex contrapuntal writing are a departure from typical French Classic composition - so much so that J. S. Bach copied the entire work by hand so he could study and play it.

The title of the prelude, Récit de tierce en taille, literally tells the performer that the melody is in the tenor voice (or left hand) and requires a specific solo sound. While the meter of the recit is usually slower to accommodate the highly melismatic nature of the melody, Gaspar Corrette, in 1707, challenged organists to achieve the true nature of the piece. “The tierce en taille demands languidness and nuance, then sweeping passages, full of movement …imitating the singing voice as far as possible.” De Grigny’s extensive ornamentation and superior writing make this recit one of the greatest masterpieces in the French Classic repertoire.

(Image: Organ at the Royal Chapel, Versailles)