Organ repertoire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Because the organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in existence, written organ repertoire spans a time period almost as long as that of written music itself. Because the organ was found almost exclusively in the western churches from the Middle Ages until the emergence in the Romantic era of large concert hall instruments, a significant portion of organ repertoire is sacred in nature. Thus, most organ music comes from Western Europe and North America; because the eastern religions (such as the Eastern Orthodox Church) did not use any instruments in their worship. Owing to the age of the instrument and its frequent use in Western worship, the organ has the largest written repertoire of any musical instrument.
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[edit] Renaissance
The earliest surviving keyboard compositions (keyboard music was not instrument-specific until the sixteenth century) are from France (Robertsbridge Codex c. 1365) and Italy (Faenza Codex, 15th century).
The English virginal style was a manner of composition and performance prevalent in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; some manuscripts are preserved in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Sweelinck was strongly influenced by this style. Organ music was almost exclusively based on learned contrapuntal, exemplified by the Fantasia ("Fancy"), as well as works based on contrapuntal treatment of chant. Composers well known for their choral works wrote organ music, for example Tallis, Byrd and Gibbons.
[edit] Baroque
[edit] France
In France, baroque organ music (referred to as French classical music, despite being from the Baroque period) was almost exclusively liturgical in nature and composed and performed in a very systemized manner. In addition, the organs were built along standardized lines. The compositions were smaller scale compared with those in other countries. Some of the forms (the Plein jeu, the Récit de Cromorne, and the Tierce en Taille, for example) utilized almost no counterpoint, while others (the Duo, the Trio, and the Fugue) were contrapuntal in nature (though the counterpoint was not generally as complex as in Germany).
[edit] England
English composers John Stanley and William Boyce wrote a number of important works at this time, as of course did Handel.
[edit] Germany
In Germany and Austria, baroque organ music utilized increasing amounts of counterpoint. Organ music in the baroque can be divided into works based on Lutheran chorales (e.g. chorale preludes and chorale fantasias) and those not (e.g. toccatas, fantasias and free preludes). There are marked stylistic differences between the composers of North, South and Central Germany such that further generalisation is inaccurate. The North German Praeludium (an important form consisting of alternating sections of free material written in the largely misunderstood stylus phantasticus and fugal material) reached its zenith in Dieterich Buxtehude, informed by Matthias Weckmann and Heinrich Scheidemann (influenced most strongly by Jan Peeterszoon Sweelinck and by the Italian school transported to North Germany by Heinrich Schütz and Samuel Scheidt). Georg Böhm remained firmly representative of the South German School, though [Johann Pachelbel]]'s influence as a teacher extended across North, South and Central Germany. Baroque organ music arguably reached its height in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wrote a few North German style praeludia, actually somewhat less successfully than the models by Buxtehude, but much more importantly developed a style essentially separate from the predominant styles of North, South and Central Germany. The majority of his free works consisted of two parts: a prelude, toccata or fantasia, and a fugue. Bach also wrote a large number of chorale preludes.
[edit] Classical era
The great composers of the classical era wrote sparingly if at all for the organ: Haydn wrote only for clockwork organs, and Beethoven and Mozart wrote only a handful of works.
English composers John Stanley and William Boyce wrote a number of important works at this time.
[edit] Romantic era
[edit] France
During the Romantic era, technological advances allowed new features to be added to the organ, increasing its potential for expression. The work of the French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in particular represented a great leap in organ building. Cavaillé-Coll refined the English swell box by devising a spring-loaded (later balanced) pedal with which the organist could operate the swell shutters. He invented an ingenious pneumatic combination action system for his five-manual organ at Saint-Sulpice. He adjusted pipemaking and voicing techniques, thus creating a whole family of stops imitating orchestral instruments such as the bassoon, the oboe, and the flute. He introduced divided windchests which were controlled by ventils, allowing for the use of higher wind pressures. For a mechanical tracker action to operate under these higher wind pressures, pneumatic assistance provided by the Barker lever was required, which Cavaillé-Coll included in his larger instruments. This pneumatic assist made it possible to couple all the manuals together and play on the full organ without expending a great deal of effort. All these innovations allowed the organist to execute a seamless crescendo from pianissimo all the way to fortissimo: something that had never before been possible by the organ. Composers were now able to write music for the organ which mirrored that played by the symphony orchestra. For this reason, both the organs and the literature of this time period are considered symphonic.
César Franck, Charles-Marie Widor, and Félix-Alexandre Guilmant were important organist-composers who were inspired by the sounds made possible through Cavaillé-Coll's advances in organ building. They wrote extensively for the organ, and their works have endured. A particularly important form of organ composition in the Romantic era was the organ symphony, first seen in César Franck's Grand pièce symphonique and refined in the ten symphonies of Widor and the six of Louis Vierne. The organ symphony, comprising several movements, paralleled symphonies written for the orchestra. Guilmant wrote several compositions similar to organ symphonies; however, preferring to remain in the classical mold, he called them sonatas. In addition to organ symphonies, composers of the day wrote in other forms: Franck wrote eleven other major organ works, including the Prélude, Fugue et Variation and the Trois Chorals; Widor wrote a Suite Latine on various plainsong tunes; Vierne composed 24 pièces de fantaisie, of which the Carillon de Westminster is perhaps the most well-known. The influence of these composers has persisted through generations of composers for the organ through history, all the way to the modern-day composers Olivier Messiaen and Naji Hakim.
[edit] Germany
In Germany, Felix Mendelssohn wrote extensively for the organ. Josef Rheinberger wrote a number of important works that blend the romantic style with the contrapuntal complexity of the old German masters. Some composers best known for their compositions for piano or orchestra also turned their efforts to the organ, including Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms.
[edit] United States
In the United States, Dudley Buck was a prominent composer, although his work has remained largely unknown outside of the U.S.
During this time, transcriptions of other music -usually orchestral music or piano solos— for organ became popular. Often the transcriptions would utilize only an excerpt of the original piece.
[edit] 20th century
During the 20th century, there were a number of independent trends in organ repertoire:
- Organ works were composed in a style similar to 20th century orchestral music. Composers include: Marcel Dupre, Helmut Walcha, John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti; towering over everyone else is Olivier Messiaen.
- The theater organ achieved a brief period of prominence from about 1900-1935, and had its own repertoire
- The Hammond organ was used in jazz, popular music and rock, especially from about 1950-1975.
- There was an evangelical organ style derived in part from the southern gospel movement, with composers including Fred Bock, Lani Smith, and Harold De Cou
- Transcriptions of previous works, and improvisations based on hymn tunes, continued to be written in a fairly traditional style by organist-composers such as Searle Wright, Dale Wood and E. Power Biggs.
