Richard D. Moe Organ Series. Jonathan Wohlers, organist. Sunday, March 5, 2017, at 3pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center

Transcription

1 Richard D. Moe Organ Series Jonathan Wohlers, organist Sunday, March 5, 2017, at 3pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center

2 Pacific Lutheran University School of Arts and Communication / Department of Music presents Richard D. Moe Organ Series Jonathan Wohlers, organist Sunday, March 5, 2017, at 3pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center Welcome to Lagerquist Concert Hall. Please disable the audible signal on all watches, pagers and cellular phones for the duration of the concert. Use of cameras, recording equipment and all digital devices is not permitted in the concert hall. PROGRAM Grand Dialogue in C... Louis Marchand ( ) Auf meinen lieben Gott... Georg Böhm ( ) Versus 1 Versus 2 Versus 3 Versus 4 Piéce d Orgue, BWV Johann Sebastian Bach ( ) Four Pieces from Choralvorspiele zu Lierden des Dänischen Gesangbuchs... Anton Heiller ( ) O Haupt voll Blut und wunden: vorspiel, zwichenspiel, choral Det hellige kors Som lilliens hjerte kan holdes I grøde Freu dich sehr, meine Seele: vorspiel, nachspiel Sonata in A Major, Op. 65 no Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy ( ) Con moto maestoso Andante tranquillo March upon a Theme of Handel, Op. 15 no. 2...Félix-Alexandre Guilmant ( )

3 Program Notes The flowering of French organ music from known as the classical period coincided with the reign of Louix XIV and the coming of age of French baroque music. In the works of Louis Marchand we hear an exemplar representation of the style with music that is stylized and refined, rich in the use of ornamentation, and varied in manner and character, taking full advantage of the tonal palette of the French Classical organ. Marchand s Grand Dialogue in C (Versailles, 1696) is a tour of contrasts, exploring the powerful reeds of the Grand jeu, the supple brilliance of the Recit cornet, the dark gravity of the organ s foundation flue pipes in the Fond d orgue, and the delightful dialogue of various flute mutation and reed solo combinations. The son of a Lyon organist, Marchand was reportedly a child prodigy who eventually became one of the most famous French virtuosos in Europe. By the age of 20 he moved to Paris where he held several church positions and was a court organist to Louis XIV. Between 1713 and 1717 he went on an extended tour of Germany where according to the biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel arrangements were made for a contest with J. S. Bach at the Dresden court. The event however never transpired as Marchand slipped away before the meeting could take place. Other anecdotal accounts paint the picture of a colorful person who was as famous for rumor and scandal as he was for his music, including conflicts with colleagues, his ex-wife, and even the king (possibly the reasons for his time spent outside of France). Today is the first Sunday in Lent, the solemn period in the church year of fasting and repentance in anticipation and preparation for the festival of Easter. To mark the season, a number of works on today s program are based on chorales and songs with Lenten themes. One of the great organists of the North German organ school, Georg Böhm offers an intriguing bridge to French style in German organ music. Born in Thuringia, he learned the organ in the Central German manner first from his father, and later possibly from Johann Pachelbel. It was in Hamburg in his early 30 s when he was harpsichordist for the Hamburg opera that he came into immediate contact with French music. The opera was under the direction of a pupil of the French court-composer Jean- Baptiste Lully, and contemporary operas from both France and Italy were regularly performed. With its proximity to the ducal castle at Celle where the lady-in-waiting promoted the music she had known at Versailles, Böhm s following appointment to the Johanniskirche in Lüneburg surely also proved influential. In Böhm s Auf meinen lieben Gott, a chorale cycle of four variations, we find an intersection of old and new, recalling the chorale-based pieces typical of N. German composers, but infused with embellished melodic structures, French in style and ornamentation. v. 1 Auf meinen lieben Gott In my beloved God Trau ich in Angst und Not I trust in anxiety and trouble; Der kann mich allzeit retten He can always deliver me Aus Trübsal, Angst und Nöten, from sorrow, anxiety, and troubles; Mein Unglück kann er wenden, he can change my misfortune, Steht all s in seinen Händen. everything is in his hands. In his 65 years Johann Sebastian Bach never left Germany, yet his music borrows from and incorporates many genres and styles, particularly those from Italy and France. With its French title, Piece d Orgue is unique in Bach s oeuvre: written in three distinct sections, Très vitement Gravement Lentement, it is unlike any other of Bach s free works for the organ. The piece was most likely composed in his early Weimar years, a time of compositional experimentation, and was later revised either in Weimar or Cöthen. The French title is found on the earliest known copy in the hand of his cousin, Johann Gottfried Walther, and on later versions by Bach s students Berhnhard Christian Kayser, and Johann Peter Kellner. The beginning and ending sections with constant sixteenth-note arpeggiations seem to be a re-imagining of the toccata, borrowing both from violin passage-work of the solo partitas and from the broken chords found in French piéces de clavecin for harpsichord. It is the homogeneous five-voice middle section of Piece d Orgue that is most clearly French in inspiration, recalling plein jeu pieces with dense voice leading and frequent suspended harmonies over a free bass line. The earliest version of Piece d Orgue was to be played without pedals, manualiter (up until m. 176),

4 making it close in spirit to its French antecedent however, in the later 1722 copy the remark avec la pedalle continu is included, the version used for today s performance. The Viennese organist Anton Heiller was celebrated in his lifetime as a performer, improviser, composer, conductor, and teacher. His wide-ranging musicianship included a lifelong commitment to composition, especially music for organ and for choir, vehicles where he could most thoroughly explore his devout Roman Catholic faith. Much of the music from his younger years uses increasingly high degrees of chromatic dissonance. However, influence from Paul Hindemith led to later works with more simple, open textures, and attention to motivic details. It is in a group of pieces discovered in a desk drawer after his untimely death that we find Heiller s music is at its most stark and sonorous. In the final year of his life he suffered from poor health, and labored to compose. Yet Heiller never stopped working, choosing seven chorales to set as chorale preludes from the Danish Songbook with themes of sorrow and gladness, and of Christ s death and resurrection: O Haupt voll Blut und wunden Det hellige kors Som lilliens hjerte kan holdes i grøde Freu dich sehr, meine Seele O Sacred Head, Now Wounded The Holy Cross As the Heart of the Lily Can Stand in the Harvest Rejoice, O My Soul While visiting London in the spring of 1844, Felix Mendelssohn was approached by Charles Coventry of the publishing firm of Coventry & Hollier to write three voluntaries for the organ. Mendelssohn began working on the project promptly upon his return to Germany, but soon discovered that what he was composing was beyond the scope of the traditional English voluntary. He wrote to Coventry and suggested that the title sonata be used instead. Opus 65 was the result, a set of six sonatas for the organ published in September of Sonata No. 3 was the first of the six to be completed, and had its origins as a reworking of a march he had written for his sister Fanny s wedding. (He was unable to finish the march, or to attend because of an injury from a carriage accident while in the United Kingdom. Instead, the music at the wedding was composed by Fanny herself, her first work for organ, the Prelude in F Major). Because of its chorale subject, Sonata No. 3 is especially appropriate for Lent: following the grand introductory march in A major, two successive fugues in A minor follow, the first punctuated in the pedal by the chorale Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir. After the triumphal tumult of the first movement, the sonata ends with a peaceful andante religioso, reminiscent of similar character pieces found in Mendelssohn s Songs Without Words for piano. In essence it is a prayer of benediction, a conclusion used again for the end of Sonata No. 6, also based on a chorale, Vater unser im Himmelreich ( Our Father in Heaven ). v. 1 Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, From deep affliction I cry out to you, Herr Gott, erhoer mein Rufen, Lord God, hear my call; Dein gnädig ohren kehr zu mir, incline your merciful ear to hear me Und meiner Bitt sie öffnen! and be open to my prayer! Denn so du willst das sehen an, For if you want to look at this Was Sünd und Unrecht ist getan what sin and injustice is done, Wer kann, Herr, vor dir bleiben? who can, Lord, remain before you? Martin Luther [Psalm 130] The final work on today s program comes from Alexandre Guilmant. Together with Charles-Marie Widor, his predecessor at the Paris Conservatory, Guilmant helped lay the foundations for a national French organ school. Thanks to his many concert tours, including the first given by a major French organist in North America, at the turn of the twentieth century he was perhaps the best-known organist in the world. He was a great student of baroque organ music, publishing anthologies of French organ composers (Archives des Maîtres de l Orgue, 1 10) and non-french composers (l École classique de l Orgue, 1 25) still in use today. That his interest in early music should influence his own composition should not be a surprise. Among the works in his Pièces dans different styles pour orgue, 1-18, are both pieces based on Protestant chorales and compositions in the style of J. S. Bach and George Frideric Handel. The March upon a Theme of Handel belongs to the latter. Its structure is

5 borrowed from the three-part French overture, with a middle fugue whose theme is inspired by Bach s Prelude in E-flat Major, BWV 552 from the Clavier Übung III. The main theme for the piece comes from the chorus Lift up Your Heads, a song of hope for the triumph of the resurrection found in Part II (no. 33) of Handel s oratorio, Messiah. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory. Charles Jennens [para. Psalm 24:7 10] Jonathan Wohlers University Place, 2017

6 Disposition of the Gottfried and Mary Fuchs Organ Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Building Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma WA Built by Paul Fritts & Co Great Positive Swell Praestant (Gis) 16 Praestant (F) 8 Quintadena 16 Octave 8 Gedackt 8 Principal 8 Rohrflöte 8 Octave 4 Bourdon 8 Spielflöte 8 Rohrflöte 4 Viole de Gambe 8 Salicional 8 Octave 2 Voix Celeste (c ) 8 Octave 4 Waldflöte 2 Octave 4 Spitzflöte 4 Nasat 1 1/3 Koppelflöte 4 Quinte 2 2/3 Sesquialter II Nasard 2 2/3 Octave 2 Scharff IV-VII Gemshorn 2 Cornet V Fagott 16 Tierce 1 3/5 Mixture V-VII Trompete 8 Mixture V-VII Trompete 16 Dulcian 8 Trompete 8 Trompete 8 Hautbois 8 Baarpfeife 8 Voix Humaine 8 Schalmey 4 Pedal Subbaß 32 Praestant 16 Posaune 32 Subbaß 16 Octave 8 Posaune 16 Gedackt 8 Octave 4 Trompete 8 Nachthorn 2 Mixture V-VII Trompete 4 Cornett 2 Couplers: Positive/Great Key Action: Direct Mechanical, suspended Swell/Great Swell/Positive Manual compass: 58 notes (C-a ) Great/Pedal Positive/Pedal Pedal compass: 30 notes (C-f ) Swell/Pedal Temperament: Kellner Other: Tremulants Wind Stabilizer For pictures of the organ, please visit the organ builder s website at For more information about the organ, the organ program at PLU, and the Richard D. Moe Organ Series, please visit

7 About the Organ Builder Since the founding of the company in 1979, Paul Fritts & Co. Organ Builders has built forty one instruments. The firm has devoted considerable time researching and practicing the techniques developed by the finest organ builders working in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Mexico, France and the United States with an emphasis on the so-called Golden Age period of organ building. Organ building during this period reached a very high level and sophistication, particularly when we study pipe making. Elegant speech combined with a full yet sweet and colorful tone captivates the listener. The research includes careful observations of the acoustical properties of the rooms in which they speak; a key aspect to consider as one evaluates the sound of an organ. These experiences, together with the collective expertise found within the workshop, contribute to each new project. The primary mission is to craft instruments that today s players and audiences will love and cherish. Recent work has reflected a desire to expand further the range of the instruments while maintaining high musical standards within a meaningful and useful style. For the most part, this involves building larger, more expansive projects with additional features that broaden the musical scope of the organs. The last project was a seventy stop organ, which is in the Basilica on the campus of The University of Notre Dame, Indiana. This is the firm s largest instrument to date with four manuals and a highly decorated case that includes a Rückpositive case cantilevered from the gallery rail similar to the organ here at PLU. There are currently seven craftsmen working with Paul in the workshop. All design work along with the construction of the thousands of components (except for the electric blowers, electronic pre-set systems and small hardware items) is done in-house. The establishment of the pipe shop in 1983 completed this vision for the company, enabling personalized attention to the most important parts of the organs. The workshop itself, located just ten blocks from PLU, features a beautiful timber-framed structure with sufficient height and space for the largest organs to be assembled. This contributes greatly to professional and efficient installations.

8 About the Artist A member of the contingent faculty at PLU, Jonathan Wohlers is serving as Visiting University Organist for the academic year. He has performed widely with concerts in the United States, Mexico, Europe, South Korea, and Japan, most recently playing at Opera City Concert Hall, Tokyo, and on the prestigious organ concert series at International Christian University, Tokyo. He is a former Dean of the Tacoma Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, is the Director of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church, Tacoma, and is Artist-in- Residence on the Paul Fritts & Co. organ at St. Andrew s Episcopal Church, Tacoma where in addition to playing on the church s concert series, he also engages in educational opportunities for children and adults about the organ and its repertoire. Dr. Wohlers holds degrees with honors from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, from the New England Conservatory of Music in performance and musicology, and from Southern Adventist University, and has engaged in extensive research on fugues in the early seventeenth century. His teachers include Judy Glass, Yuko Hayashi, William Porter, Christina Edelen, Matthew Dirst, and Robert Bates Richard D. Moe Organ Series Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Russell Music Building Pacific Lutheran University Nathan Laube, Sunday, September 11, 2016, 3pm Jonathan Ryan, Sunday, October , 3pm Kathrine handford, Sunday, November 6, 2016, 3pm Jonathan Wohlers, Sunday, March 5, 2017, 3pm Curt Sather, Sunday, April 9, 2017, 3pm If you would like to be on the mailing list for these organ concerts and other organ related events at PLU, please send an to organ@plu.edu with the subject line Subscribe. You will receive a reminder with program and artist info before each concert.