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The heyday of organ music in Spain came in the mid 16th century, giving rise to a glittering galaxy of composers and organists the most famous of whom was, beyond doubt, Antonio de Cabezón (1510-1566), known as a talented composer and a brilliant improviser on the organ. The inability to see the world in all its beauty (the composer was blind from birth) sharpened his incredibly fine hearing. Most of Antonio de Cabezón’s music that survives today is included in the collection Musical Works for Keyboard Instruments, Harp and Vielle (the vielle is a Spanish stringed instrument). Of all the variety of genres in the composer’s works, both spiritual and secular, arrangements of songs and instrumental melodies stand out in particular, often written in the form of variations. The variation – from the Latin “variacio” meaning change or variety – is a musical form based on modifications of a theme written or borrowed by the composer. Vivid and virtuoso cycles developed from simple and well-known songs. They include Diferencias sobre el canto del Caballero.
Of all the instrumental genres, dances proved to be particularly popular with Spanish composers. These included the galliard, an ancient triple-time dance, Roman in origin, that was widespread in Europe from the late 15th to the 17th centuries. In terms of its roots, the galliard is a folk dance, though in the late 15th century it began to be performed at royal courts. In Antonio de Cabezón’s music, dance genres are closely linked with variation technique, for example Diferencias sobre la Gallarda milanese.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s music is famous for its inventiveness and its deep conviction of tradition. Among the huge variety of the great maestro’s works, the link with tradition is most clearly seen in his choral preludes. These preludes are based on the Protestant chorale, the melody of which is in a high register, and more rarely in a medium or lower voice. Martin Luther played a deciding role in transforming the chorale into the musical foundations for divine worship. In its classical form (mid to late 16th century), Protestant chorales were canticles to rhythmical lyrical manuscripts with textual feet and poetry.
Bach united his choral preludes in five collections. Among the significant and interesting chorales that were not included in the collections is the lively Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein trio in G major. It creates a strange impression and seems more of a transcription of some highlight from a cantata. Bach’s works published under the title Schübler Chorales (BWV 645-650) pose an interesting riddle. These are arrangements of three-part choral arias from cantatas and have nothing in common with his typical choral preludes. The cycle of six chorales opens with Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.
The organ Prelude and Fugue in E Minor BWV 548 is part of the cycle Six Grand Preludes and Fugues. The composer created the work during his Leipzig period, between 1723 and 1729. In many works from this period one can feel the influence of the great organist Dietrich Buxtehude. The immense cycle was based on the dramatic interrelations between various themes. Unlike the restless spirit of works by Buxtehude and Frescobaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach’s opus “wakens the sensation of inspired majesty” and stands out for its bleakness and the gloominess of the moods. The special techniques of register used in the work create truly inimitable sound effects.
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A transcription is an arrangement of a piece of music for another musical instrument or for the human voice or a free virtuoso version of the piece of music. Transcription has passed down to the modern music world through the Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism and the 20th century. Arrangements of various works for organ have ancient traditions. The arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Serious Variations created by Reitze Smits is yet another interesting experiment in the field of transcription. It shows that for a true maestro there can be no hindrances in interpreting works from differing eras and styles.
On one hand, Felix Mendelssohn’s Serious Variations for piano (1841) preserve the memory of the classical legacy of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, while on the other they mark the start of the Romantic era. Typically, they are freely imaginative, capricious and romantically melancholic. The organ transcription of the variations did not emerge by chance. It is a well known fact that Mendelssohn composed brilliantly for the organ and even developed a new genre – the romantic organ suite.
Symphony No 3 in F Sharp Minor, Op. 28 (1911), marks the culmination of the pre-war works by the great Romantic organ composer Louis Viernes. The symphony is dedicated to Marcel Dupré, a French composer, pianist and organist. In terms of its structure, the symphony is surprisingly compact. Following his own tradition, the composer retained the five-movement cycle: Allegro maestoso, Cantilène, Intermezzo, Adagio and Final. It is noteworthy that in his orchestral symphony written at roughly the same time Louis Viernes used the traditional four-movement cycle. The symphony has stylistic similarities with the music of Max Reger. This can be seen in the sharp dissonance and the unexpected chord contrasts. The composer sought out new harmonious colours and new expressive means first and foremost in terms of harmony. Maturity as a composer and an artist came to Louis Viernes with his Third Symphony.
The genre of the toccata has ancient traditions. During Johann Sebastian Bach’s lifetime, the name “toccata” did not refer to a one-section, virtuoso and powerful piece as we understand the term today. The Italian word “toccata” (from “toccare”, “to touch”) first started being used in music in the 14th century – at that time it indicated a short fanfare piece for wind instruments and the kettledrums. From the 16th century, virtuoso works, initially for the lute and subsequently for the keyboard and organ, came to be known as toccatas. The genre reached its zenith in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. In the 19th century, attention centred on the virtuoso aspect of the genre, which demonstrated the performer’s various technical abilities. The work Tu es petra et portæ inferi non prævalebunt adversus te by French composer and organist Henri Mulet (1878–1967) is a vivid example of the toccata genre in the 19th century. A pupil of renowned organ masters Charles-Marie Widor and Alexandre Guilmant, Henri Mulet carried on the French “symphonic” organ tradition. The composer spent much of his life as a church organist in cathedrals in Paris, and he also taught at the Schola Cantorum. He spent thirty of his eighty-nine years in seclusion in a monastery. Henri Mulet died in poverty and privation, isolated from secular life. But his works, composed for the symphony organ, live on even today.
Anna Kolenkova |
