Issue 11 - Charming sonatas from an austere father!

The second movement of J. S. Bach's Third Sonata for organ, marked Adagio e dolce (translation: at ease and sweet), is this Sunday's prelude. A few short years after assuming his post in Leipzig at Thomaskirche, Bach wrote six sonatas for the organ. They are affectionately known by organists as "The Trio Sonatas" - accurately nicknamed "trios" because the sonatas have just a three-voice texture (pedal, left hand & right hand playing each just a single line).

If you haven't ever heard any of Bach's Trio Sonatas, then I think you'll really enjoy these. They are very accessible for the listener - for those who find Bach difficult to listen to or hard to understand, I would highly recommend a CD of the Trio Sonatas because of their chamber-music quality. Peter Williams, in "The Organ Music of J. S. Bach", aptly describes this virtue which makes the Sonatas so delightful:

"...[the melodies] are even less like most other organ music. Rarely if ever would such a melody be found suitable for a chorale prelude or for any of the usual fugue types ...the quality of the melody suggests either a kind of sparkling, witty line or a somewhat plaintive melodiousness, both of them charming and curiously abstract."

While I would recommend The Trio Sonatas to the beginning Bach-listener... I would NOT recommend The Trio Sonatas to the beginning organist! Any sort of trio on the organ is notoriously difficult. The reason? The organist must engage one hand on each manual and both feet in equal skill. No room for error here... the texture is so thin and the composition so aptly exploits the device of imitation that just a slip in concentration can derail the entire piece - bringing the charming music to a disastrous halt! Most concert organists won't perform a Trio Sonata in public unless they've played them for years in private! (I'm playing a slow movement, so hopefully I can hold my concentration during it.)

J. S. Bach dedicated the Trio Sonatas to his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784), who went on to become a great organist in his own right. Obviously his father knew the best regimen of compositions his son should practice. Of course, it was a running joke at school among the organists --- how much did Bach really love his son if he composed these impossible pieces for him to learn?

The postlude on Sunday is the Sinfonia from Bach's Cantata No. 29 - it was arranged for organ by Robert Hebble. This is a postlude that I hope to play at least once a year --- so I'll write more about it the next time I play it. The title of Cantata No. 29 is "We Thank Thee, God" - and the joyful character of the Sinfonia is fitting for that title.

(Image: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach)