University o Miami Scholarly Repository Open Access Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations 008-04-09 Concerto No or Organ and Orchestra Dennis anzer University o Miami, danzer@umiamiedu ollo this and additional orks at: http://scholarlyrepositorymiamiedu/oa_dissertations Recommended Citation anzer, Dennis, "Concerto No or Organ and Orchestra" (008) Open Access Dissertations 959 http://scholarlyrepositorymiamiedu/oa_dissertations/959 This Open access is rought to you or ree and open access y the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Scholarly Repository It has een accepted or inclusion in Open Access Dissertations y an authorized administrator o Scholarly Repository or more inormation, please contact repositorylirary@miamiedu
UNIVERSITY O MIAMI CONCERTO NO OR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA y Dennis anzer A DOCTORAL ESSAY Sumitted to the aculty o the University o Miami in partial ulillment o the requirements or the degree o Doctor o Musical Arts Coral Gales, lorida May 008
UNIVERSITY O MIAMI A doctoral essay sumitted in partial ulillment o the requirements or the degree o Doctor o Musical Arts CONCERTO NO OR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA Dennis anzer Approved: Dr erdinando DeSena Assistant roessor o Music Theory and Composition Dr Terri A Scandura Dean o the Graduate School Dr Dennis Kam roessor and Chair o Music Theory and Composition Dr Roert Goer Associate roessor o Music Theory and Composition roessor Alan ohnson Assistant roessor o Vocal erormance
ANZER, DENNIS (DMA, Composition) Concerto No or Organ and Orchestra (May 008) Astract o a doctoral essay at the University o Miami Doctoral essay supervised y roessor erdinando DeSena No o pages in text (7) Concertos perormale y upper-intermediate to advanced-level soloists and orchestras are numerous or most instruments The organ is an exception, having limited repertoire availale or organ and orchestra The extensive listings o repertoire or youth concerto contests emody literature rom varying periods and levels o diiculty The organ, though accepted in numerous contests, has limited options regarding availale repertoire This organ concerto is ritten in a response to that void, and is composed to e o a comparale diiculty level to the keyoard concertos currently perormed at youth concerto contests The level may e identiied as: Advanced High School: Diicult; College: Moderately Diicult The orchestra size required is o modest size, relecting the instrumentation o concertos already on the contest lists The concerto is cast in the traditional three-movement ormat, hoever, Movement I segues directly into Movement II The compositional style employs elements such as modal lines, synthetic scales and non-triadic harmony Recurring melodic and rhythmic gestures uniy the composition The movements are: I-Intrada; II-asso Ostinato; III-lourishes and anares An electronically realized version o the orchestra part is included or rehearsal purposes
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT With deep elt thanks to all ho ring music and oy into my lie iii
TALE O CONTENTS age LIST O EXAMLES LIST O TALES v vii Chapter INTRODUCTION COMARATIVE COMOSITIONS 4 3 INSTRUMENTATION 0 4 LEVEL O DIICULTY 5 Orchestral and Instrumental erormance Demands 6 Organ erormance Considerations 8 5 ORM AND MUSICAL CONTENT 3 Movement I Intrada 4 Movement II asso Ostinato 36 Movement III lourishes and anares 39 6 REHEARSAL CD 5 7 CONCLUSION 54 ILIOGRAHY 56 AENDIX A Instrumentation: Organ Concertos o George rideric Handel 59 AENDIX urman Concerto Competition - Approved Repertoire 60 AENDIX C Intermediate iano re-approved Repertoire 65 AENDIX D Ars lores Concerto rogram 66 AENDIX E Score: Concerto No or Organ And Orchestra 67 iv
LIST O EXAMLES age Example English crescendo, mvt mm 53-58 Example Chromatic passage: ingering and construct, mvt 3 mm 354-357 Example 3 alance o timing o individual movements 4 Example 4 irst saturation chord, mvt I, mm 03-04 5 Example 5 Triadic order D-lat sonority, mvt I, mm 03-04 6 Example 6 Motivic material, opening, mvt I mm -4 6 Example 7 G-lat Lydian, mvt I, mm 5-6 7 Example 8 Toccata pattern, motivic asis, mvt I, m 9 8 Example 9 Interlocking motivic material, mvt I, mm 7-9 9 Example 0 Organ s entrance theme, development, mvt I, mm 0-30 Example hrygian theme, mvt I, mm 9-30 3 Example Whole tone motive, mvt I, mm 49-5 3 Example 3 arallel chords and synthetic hrygian scale, mvt I, mm 54-58 33 Example 4 Woodind s altered version o hrygian motive, mvt I, mm 58-6 33 Example 5 Organ pedal line: ostinato, mvt II, mm 3-37 Example 6 Thematic comparison, mvts I and III 40 Example 7 Uniying, identiiale rhythmic gestures, mvt I 4 Example 8 Ne melodic material, utilizing interval o the ith, mvt III 43 Example 9 Orchestral pyramid, mvt III mm 67-68 44 Example 0 Chorale theme, mvt III, mm 70-77 45 Example Violin melody, inverted ith, mvt III mm 85-88 47 v
Example Rhythmic motive in oodinds, mvt III m 30 48 Example 3 rass victory anare, mvt III mm 8-8 48 vi
LIST O TALES age Tale Hal Leonard: Graded Instrumental Guide 5 Tale Rehearsal CD: Track identiication 5 Tale 3 Rehearsal CD production: Hardare and sotare used 53 Tale 4 ercussion instrument assignments 68 vii
Chapter INTRODUCTION The irst use o the term concerto is ound in the pulication Concerti di Andrea, et di Gio Garieli, organisti (Venus, 587) It denoted the musical collaoration o various ensemles or groups, either vocal, instrumental or any comination o them The Classical concerto orm as constructed around a concise tonal plan and structured on the Sonata Allegro design With recapitulation o material satisying key centers ithin the required constraints o the dialog entrance, the orchestra and soloist share the same thematic material With the nineteenth century came dramatic changes epitomized in the virtuosic, large-scale concertos Though, the listener as still given material shared y the soloist and orchestra, it as presented and developed in quite a dierent ashion The concerto as not so much a dialog as eore, ut more o a conrontation The precise structural constraints ere lited, and composers experimented ith ne structures This is most evident in Liszt s Second Concerto or iano and Orchestra It is a single movement concerto ith an improvisatory or antasia-like orm and each section elides ith the next Tentieth century concertos are a diusion as ell as amalgamation o past principals The duality o the concerto orces prevails, ut there is a diusion o the duality, orming a texture that is a complex unity o the orchestra and soloist Kerman Denis Arnold and Timothy Rhys ones, Concerto, in The Oxord Companion to Music, ed Alison Latham (Ne York: Oxord University ress, 00), 88-9 oseph Kerman, Virtuosity/Virtú, in Concerto Conversations, (Camridge, Mass: Harvard University ress, 999), 80
states: or ith complete diusion, oviously, duality vanishes, and that is hat happened in the tentieth-century concerto or orchestra 3 It is ith this rich and diverse historical ackground and structural reedom that my organ concerto as ritten This concerto is in three movements Movement I egins ith a single pitch, a G pedal point, in the loer strings and timpani The inds present motivic material over the pedal point A rie orchestral tutii is ansered y the organ, hich presents additional thematic material used throughout the concerto The irst to movements are elided through the use o a massive saturation chord that contains all pitches o a D-lat Maor 3th Movement II eatures an ostinato and is more static rhythmically as compared to the irst movement The ostinato allos an improvisational style o composition and perormance, something or hich the organ is knon As a means o maintaining structural alance, the third movement is sudivided into to large sections and is equivalent in length to the irst to movements comined Ne material is presented hal ay through Movement III, lourishes and anares, signaling the start o the movement s second section This inal section s orm is a descending chromatic line played in the organ pedals, the ass line This chromatic ass relates ack to the ass line o Movement II, asso Ostinato All three movements are uniied through the use o motivic and melodic material that is presented in Movement I, Intrada The riting utilizes a tonal language, recurring motives, harmonic structures employed as sonic elements, and key centrality The concerto is conceived as a single 3 oseph Kerman, Diusion: Concerto Textures, in Concerto Conversations, (Camridge, Mass: Harvard University ress, 999), 96
3 unit, not as independent movements Strong identiiale rhythmic elements are eatured hich uniy the composition hile alloing rhythmic development Consideration o the level o diiculty or oth organ soloist and instrumentalists as o prime importance in the riting o this composition The repertoire availale or Young Artist s Concerto Contests is limited or organists, more so than or other instrumentalists My goal as to rite at the level o upper-intermediate to advanced level as related to the keyoard literature currently used in concerto competitions The size o the orchestra and the numer o inds and rass, ere likeise taken into consideration The orces required are o the same demand as the concertos on many o the competition lists provided or Young Artist s Concerto Contests
Chapter COMARATIVE COMOSITIONS The organ is making a resurgence, in as ell as outside o the church It is ecoming very visile ith its inclusion in most nely uilt concert halls The organ is again ound at many colleges, no longer only tucked aay in small practice rooms ut in concert halls and perormance spaces This is itnessed y the Ne York Times article titled: MUSIC; Organs Roar ack, All ipes laring 4 Nely uilt concert halls that have installed pipe organs or hall renovations that included restoration o their pipe instruments include: Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, IL, Overture Hall in Madison, WI, Uihlein Hall in Milaukee, WI, Verizon Hall in hiladelphia, A, Severance Hall in Cleveland, OH, Symphony Hall in oston, MA and acoy Symphony Hall in acksonville, L Colleges have also olloed suit An incomplete list or lorida includes Wertheim Concert Hall at lorida International University, Miami, University Auditorium at the University o lorida, Gainesville, and to instruments availale at Eckerd College, St etersurg, one each in Roerts Music Center Recital Hall and in Griin Chapel Many eighteenth and nineteenth century concert halls had organs, ut these ere alloed to go into disrepair Concert hall organs originally ecome popular as one-man orchestras, playing transcriptions, choral accompaniments, or popular entertainment, and 4 Craig Whitney, "MUSIC; Organs Roar ack, all ipes laring - Ne York Times" http://querynytimes com/gst/ullpagehtmlres=9d05e7de393a35755c0a9659c863 (accessed March 7, 008, 008) 4
5 oten unctioned as a sustitute or orchestras, hich ere expensive ecause o the sheer numers involved or perormances With the advent o recordings, the organs main role o that era had disappeared The organ is rich in its solo literature, ut hile the concerto orm endoed the piano and many o the orchestral instruments ith great compositions, the organ seemed neglected The organ as not the maor keyoard instrument avored or concertos, the piano eing the instrument o choice It as the rench ho kept the organ concerto genre alive, in part ecause o the ine instrument at the alais de Chaillot or hich many orks or organ and orchestra ere ritten and then premiered in that hall The rench concert orks or organ and orchestra rom that period y ongen, Guilmant, and Saint-Saëns are still perormed regularly today The scores employ the vast resources o the large-sized Romantic orchestras and the virtuosic style o riting prevalent at the time O particular note in the Tentieth Century, is the organ concerto y oulenc It is not scored or ull orchestra, rather, or strings and timpani, or the practical reason o perormance space The olloing oers an insight into perormance prolems It is also an interesting commentary on the ecclesiastical nature o the instrument oulenc as asked hether he conceived o the concerto as an instrumental ork or the church, in the manner o a concerto da chiesa, or as a concert ork, in hich the organ is used only y virtue o its tonal resources, making no allusion to its nature as an ecclesiastical instrument He replied that it occupies an important place in my ork, in the margin o my religious music It is not a concerto da chiesa, properly speaking, ut y limiting mysel in the orchestra, to strings alone and three timpani, I rendered the perormance o it possile in the church 5 5 ames E razier, "The oulenc Organ Concerto," in Maurice Durulé: The Man and His Music, (Rochester, NY: University o Rochester ress, 007), 73
6 Langlais also contriuted an organ concerto It as premiered in 95 at the cathedral in ern, Sitzerland In part ecause o space restrictions, it is ritten or doule inds and strings ith no percussion or rass This composition is practical to perorm due to the nature o its orchestral orces The ork is tonal and instrumental parts are not overly diicult Hoever, the organ solo does have its challenges Though it does limit pedal usage, the keyoard part seems more pianistic, ith many parallel thirds, octaves and even hat could e descried as sixteenth-note six-our chords running on or long periods This pattern is easily playale y the oodinds, ho only play one note at a time and are given rests every second measure in hich to reath No reaks in the organ part ere given or inger sustitution This type o riting is more diicult to execute on the organ than on a piano ecause o the key s action and responsiveness actors prompting me to rite a ork or organ and orchestra include the increased availaility o organs or perormance outside o churches, the numer o youth orchestras and pre-proessional training programs that have developed, and the longstanding tradition o concerto contests or youth or pre-proessional musicians Most instrumentalists have much literature to choose rom or these concerto contests, varying in style, rom dierent musical periods and o various graded diiculty levels This does not appear to e true regarding concertos or the organ What one inds, in general, is that most o the organ-orchestra concertos are unsuitale or perormance y many o the youth orchestras ecause o the technical demands made upon the instrumentalist, rehearsal and/or perormance hall space limitations, and the reduced numer o players o these youth orchestras This deiciency
7 in the literature, the lack o upper-intermediate or pre-proessional level compositions or organ ith orchestra, is the perceived need or hich I have ritten this concerto The instrumentation o the concertos most oten required or perormed in young artist contests is more limited than the instrumental requirements o most organ and orchestra compositions eginning ith the comprehensive concerto list rom urman University, 6 I have added the instrumentation or each o the concertos as availale in Orchestral Music: A Handook, y David Daniels 7 This inormation is ound in Appendix urman s concerto list does in act include several organ concertos These include representations rom three diverse periods: the aroque, represented y Handel s concertos Opus 4, and Opus 7; the Romantic, i churchy, Rheinerger maor, and the Tentieth Century oulenc The organ list only outnumers that o the piccolo, ith one concerto named, and the euphonium, hich has to entries The tua overshados the organ ith our entries The piano ins hands-don ith over 30 entries The ratio changes somehat i one concedes that the Handel concertos contained in Opus 4 and Opus 7, ith six in each, numer telve in total There are to additional organ concertos o Handel not on the urman concerto list, HWV 95 and HWV 96a HWV 95, The Cuckoo and the Nightingale, one o the most popular, is oddly not included on the urman list In reality, some o the most perormed organ concertos are these y Handel The concertos employ aroque ensemles o limited size Most, in act, 6 "urman Concerto Competition Approved Repertoire" http://09850704/searchq=cache: DUdIGrRlTY:urmanedu/depts/music/areasostudy/orchestrasite/ccrlpd+urman+concertohl=en ct=clnkcd=gl=usclient=saari (accessed March 9, 008) 7 David Daniels, Orchestral Music: A Handook, 4th ed (Lanham, Md: Scarecro ress, 005)
8 ork very ell using only one person on each o the string parts Appendix A can e explored to ascertain the instrumental requirements or each o these concertos These delightul aroque orks are not in the category o the ones eing discussed, ut are o the concerto grosso style The ideal organ or a perormance o the Handel concertos is really a chamer organ, since these orks make little or no use o the pedal clavier and are easily perormed on a single manual instrument The Handel orks are oten perormed ith no more than single or doule players on the strings ith the ind instruments added as required The typical instrumentation Handel ould have used is o a much smaller scale than even our modern chamer orchestras 8 The chamer organ suitale or Handel is in sharp contrast to the large concert instruments o today ith three or our manuals, ull pedal oard and a vast array o colorul stops, relecting the modern day orchestra, ith its readth o colors and greater numer o players The organ on hich Handel played these orks had to e transported to the theater These concertos ere played during the reaks in his oratorios The e participating instrumentalists received parts; these could even e called sketches, o the concertos Handel then improvised or extemporaneously perormed the organ parts It as oten only later that he committed the organ part to paper y request o his pulisher The Handel organ is not the type or scale o instrument ith hich I am here concerned The literature or organ ith instruments is vast and varied There are a great numer o compositions or various types o rass ensemles and organ I oodinds are the instruments o choice, the organ generally takes on an accompanimental role, 8 HANDEL Organ Concertos RILLIANT CLASSICS 9996 [RH]: Classical CD Revies- e 005 MusicWe-International"http://musiceinternationalcom/classrev/005/e05/Handel_ organ_ rillianthtm (accessed March 7, 008)
9 though oten required to supply a counter melody in duet ashion as in a trio sonata It is ith orks or organ ith orchestra that the choices ecome limited I one then takes into account the perormance space that may limit the size o the orchestra and the diiculty level, the potential choices are minimal And yet, as Craig Whitney rote in the Ne York Times, The sudden prominence o pipe organs in concert halls and in other places around the country provides an opportunity or organists to appeal to audiences ith music not limited to conventional repertory 9 9 Craig Whitney, "MUSIC; Organs Roar ack, all ipes laring - Ne York Times" http://query nytimescom/gst/ullpagehtmlres=9d05e7de393a35755c0a9659c863 (accessed March 7, 008)
Chapter 3 INSTRUMENTATION In deciding hat orchestral orces should e used, I researched the concertos o all types that ere perormed and/or used as required pieces or concerto contests or youth Contests or either piano or string seem to e most prevalent, ut inds, rass and even voice are all ell represented in concerto competitions This paper looks only into instrumental concertos The concertos perormed vary greatly in diiculty, yet it is oten perormer age that is used to determine categories, not alays the literature Terms descriing each level o entry vary ith the dierent contests, as do the age requirements, ut in general: the unior level may include those elo age telve, or in other contests, the unior level include those elo sixteen Senior level maximum age varies eteen eighteen and tenty, ut sometimes tenty-ive is a maximum I the sponsoring institution is a high school or college, the age requirements relect the targeted student ody There is also the pre-proessional level that is open to a maximum age o tentyeight or sometimes a maximum o thirty At this upper level, the sponsoring orchestra is oten proessional, and the literature accepted is not limited y diiculty or instrumental requirements Though my concerto may ind its ay into this category, it is possile to e perormed y musicians o the senior, non-proessional level, called collegiate in some contests This ould e identiied as Advanced High School: Diicult; College: 0
Moderately Diicult according to the Contemporary Music roect s encoding 0 This is ideal or the youth orchestras o today In addition, most community orchestras or ad hoc orchestras that churches organize or perormances ould ind this a useul addition to the repertoire, requiring some rehearsal, ut ell ithin the technical limitations oten ound in those ensemles The instrumentation or my organ concerto is: lutes Ooes Clarinets (in -lat) Horns (in ) Trumpets (in -lat) Timpani (3 timpani used) ercussion (to players) Organ solo Violin I Violin II Viola Cello Contraass The limited numer o ind and rass players as chosen to coincide ith the commonly perormed concerto repertoire that is currently eing perormed, alloing doule illing o my organ concerto on programs already eaturing competition inners, or example Though I include to percussion players in addition to the timpani player, this should not pose a prolem, since the target orchestras ould have these players availale Much o the literature these groups perorm, other than the concertos, also employ to or more percussionists The instruments assigned to the to percussionists are ound in Appendix E, igure 4 0 Contemporary Music roect or Creativity in Music Education preace to Works or orchestra and string instruments, ed Vera rodsky Larence vol (Washington DC The CM Lirary, 969), vii-ix
My concerto, ith 0 tmp str perc:, (ormat ased on that used in Orchestral Music: A Handook, ourth Edition y David Daniels), has comparale instrumentation, or example, to the Mendelssohn piano concertos, 0 0 tmp str, Mendelssohn s violin concerto s instrumental requirements are the same other than not using any trumpets The popular Grieg iano Concerto in A minor, even though quite diicult, requires 4 3 0 tmp str; hoever, it is noted that the original used to horns and that a 97 eters edition added to additional horns that mostly doule horns, and thus are sometimes omitted in modern perormances" A recent perormance o Movement I o the Grieg A minor Concerto (anuary 6, 008) as included in a concert y the inners o the Sixth Annual Young Artists Concerto Competition Concert This competition as held in Davie, L ith the Ars lores Symphony Orchestra under the direction o Dr Christine ackson The program eatured six inners playing six dierent concertos, though only one movement o each concerto as programmed A complete concert program listing the compositions perormed can e ound in Appendix D Instrumental requirements can e crossreerenced ith the inormation ound in Appendix regarding the concertos perormed String section size varies ith each orchestra according to availale musicians, space availaility and even udget This as taken into account in riting my concerto, especially regarding use o divisi strings Hoever, a moderate sized orchestra possesses David Daniels, preace to Orchestral Music: A Handook, 4th ed (Lanham, Md: Scarecro ress, 005), vii David Daniels, Grieg iano Concerto in A Minor in Orchestral Music: A Handook, 4th ed (Lanham, Md: Scarecro ress, 005), 53
3 a multitude o colors, ith ind and rass sections ell represented, and also relects the numer o players most o the perormed concerto literature utilizes Regarding diiculty level, one concerto stands out ecause it as conceived as, and even titled Youth Concerto, iano Concerto No 3 o Dmitri Kaalevsky, hich is scored or 0 tmp str perc:3 Though notaly missing rom previous concert perormances, it has een revived in recent years It does not appear on the approved list o the urman Concerto Competition, ut it did make the list o preapproved repertoire or the intermediate piano level (age requirement maximum o 5 years) Northern Alerta Concerto Competition The Northern Alerta Concerto Competition is or piano, organ and voice, ith to levels or piano, Intermediate and Senior, and one level, Senior, or voice No designation, or any additional inormation is given or organ, other than including the organ as one o the only three acceptale perorming orces or this competition The Senior iano level (maximum age o 4) identiies: Any complete concerto, or extended solo ork ith orchestra, rom the standard repertoire 3 See Appendix C or a list o their pre-approved Intermediate level piano concertos Though the Northern Alerta Concerto Competition is open to organists at oth entry levels, no repertoire is preapproved, and no additional inormation is given regarding acceptale repertoire One caveat regarding piano repertoire is that Any other selections require his (Mr Massey, the conductor o the Edmonton Youth Orchestra) approval to make sure the selections are 3 "The Alerta Registered Music Teachers" http://armtaedmontonaca/current/northern AlertaConcertoCompetition/007Inohtm (accessed March 7, 008)
4 orchestrally easile and scores are availale 4 Should one surmise that the organist ollo the same guidelines given or piano repertoire None-the-less, the concern expressed regards the orchestration and instruments availale, thus highlighting the need or more organ repertoire to e ritten or these concerto competitions utilizing the readily availale orchestral resources 4 "The Alerta Registered Music Teachers" http://armtaedmontonaca/current/northern AlertaConcertoCompetition/007Inohtm (accessed March 7, 008)
Chapter 4 LEVEL O DIICULTY O particular concern in riting this concerto, as addressing the easiility o perormance The issue o instrumentation and the choices made have een discussed, ut something needs to e said o the elusive nature o deining technical diiculty levels Hal Leonard is knon or its contriution to school music and education, and uses a graded level system to assist conductors in choosing music The Instrumental Series Guide contained in its and/orchestra/azz catalog, assign numerical ratings ith diiculty levels ranging rom one to ive These are shon in Tale 5 Tale Hal Leonard: Graded Instrumental Guide Numeric system Descriptive level guide Years o experience Very Easy Year playing experience Easy Years playing experience 3 Medium 3-4 Years playing experience 4 Medium Advanced 5 Advanced roessional 5 "Hal Leonard Online" http://halleonardcom/andseriesguidesp (accessed March 7, 008) 5
6 O note is that no type o description is given that helps the purchaser decide the dierences eteen the levels 4-Medium Advanced, 5-Advanced, and -roessional Also, lurring the lines o demarcation urther, the terms seem to change hen Hal Leonard descries the solo keyoard and solo instrumental music Numerical ratings have disappeared and no the levels o diiculty ound are identiied as: Easy, Moderately Easy, Easy/Medium, Moderate, Medium, Intermediate, Diicult I devised this order rom inormation I gleaned rom the descriptions given or various titles in the catalog The term Advanced also inds its ay into the descriptors, sometimes comined ith another term, eg Early Advanced It also might e used to descrie a collection that runs the gamut o diiculty as in eginning to Advanced Some even receive the rating: Very Advanced It seems there may e some aritrary quality to all o this My goal as to rite, corresponding to Hal Leonard s numerical value o grading, at level 5 ith occasional areas o 4, in order to alance the learning curve in regards to oth the orchestra and soloist Hoever, the description o the diiculty level that etter seems to identiy this ork, uses the terminology employed y the Contemporary Music roect That level o diiculty eing: Advanced High School: Diicult; College: Moderately Diicult, as reerenced earlier in the paper Orchestral and Instrumental erormance Demands In regard to technical requirements concerning the strings, the irst violins are required to play in third position ith some regularity, ut hen the extreme upper register eyond that position is required, octave divisi is oten used to acilitate perormance o these sections Also the second violins are not required to use extreme
7 registers I also rote some divisi sections as an aid to players in tuning or the high tessitura y using octave douling There are areas o divisi that are intended to ill out harmonies in the string sections These ere purposeully constructed, and alance as taken into account Orchestras that I am targeting may have a reduced numer o strings in each section; divisi causes a loss o intensity In the places requiring divisi, the strings are not overpoered y other instruments or the organ, ut rather given space to e heard, or in some cases, additionally supported y the inclusion o inds No extraordinary playing techniques are needed, ut pizzicato, tremolo and harmonics are required Nothing necessitates ast changes or other procedures that ould add to the diiculty Some doule stops are used; these, again, are easily ingered and played, and oten involve at least one open string Ranges or rass, especially the horns, ere taken into consideration Horns are notoriously diicult to play, and at this age, the players may not have developed ully Range considerations and ample resting time or the horn players ere a special concern The trumpets are not given any extremely high notes, and even hen those in the playale upper range are included, preparation time and recovery time is provided Winds should have no prolems ith their parts Again, the greatest prolem, in general or inds, ould e reath control Suicient time or reathing eteen phrases and udicious riting o shared parts eteen irst and second players alleviates any prolems lute I is required to play quite a it in the upper register The importance o reath support as taken into consideration This part should e playale y any college level lautist, ith the alloances made in the inclusion o recovery time
8 Organ erormance Considerations The organ solo s diiculty level may e descried as moderately diicult college level Many high school aged organists ould also ind this playale In any event, the diiculty level lies right in the middle o here students all regarding the age requirements or most youth concerto competitions One o the prolems oserved ith organ students is that they oten egin to study the instruments later than, or example, pianists In act, most organists egan as pianists and at some point egin studying the organ, some in grade school, some during high school, and many in college Though this is a consideration, I tried to compose ithin the rameork descried, posing enough challenges and reards or the perormers, hile portraying excitement and ravura, color and interest, or the audience The organ s many various toccata patterns ere developed to it comortaly under the ingers; hoever, these are not the simple repetitions that might e seen in asic or eginning organ repertoire I purposely developed patterns and melodic lines that ould e reminiscent o various organ schools In particular, the rench School has oered many toccatas that are in every organist s repertoire The patterns developed in my concerto, ill eel at home or many Other organists ho have not explored that literature ill, hopeully, delve into it ecause o the exposure presented ithin my concerto Instructors, ho may e helping a student prepare this concerto, ill readily make the musical connections to those orks or the organ schools that are intimated ithin the composition
9 Though there is some contrapuntal riting in the organ part, no ugue or even extended sections o simultaneous independent lines in hands and eet are used When the pedals are active, less activity is given to the manuals When oth are active, or example at the very opening using the toccata in the hands ith the melody in the pedal, the ody placement as considered hysical alance is an issue, and the pedal line alls easily i placed directly under the ody s center o gravity, rather than at the extremes o the pedal oard Here the pedal melody does alk its ay up the keyoard in those to measures, ut it still lies under the hand s placement as the eet are playing toards the same end, the upper hal, o the keyoards Another aid in perorming at this point, is that the eet are alays in contact ith the pedal oard as there are no rests in the musical line This helps to counter-alance the ody s movement or pivot as the eet extend to the upper portion o the pedal oard As exempliied in these instances descried, the diiculty level as addressed throughout the compositional process The goal throughout the composition, hether or the soloist or memers o the orchestra, as alays to e idiomatic to the instrument or the organist, the comort level o perorming at the instrument, not ust the ease o playing the notes themselves, has also een taken into account Another eature o the organ that sets it apart rom other instruments is the changes o sounds that are possile This adds oth interest and excitement to the music, ut also adds diiculty to the perormance This chameleon-like character, ith the aility to vary its sound in a moment, is accomplished through stop changes Registrational aids acilitate these changes and are no taken or granted This as not alays the case and some instruments are still to e ound ithout any registrational
0 assists at all The multi-memory, reliale capture systems are considered a modern improvement to organs Hoever one still oten inds comination actions that are unreliale or even non-unctional This is especially true in older instruments ound in churches I orking properly, ith a simple push o a piston or utton, changes o registration are taken care o in an instant Even on a orking system, hoever, changes can e diicult i not planned or in the music itsel In the concerto, adequate time is given to acilitate these changes In act, most o the time, hand registration is possile, as terraced dynamics are most requently used Hoever, there is a particular eect knon as the English crescendo in hich a continuous and smooth crescendo is accomplished y adding stops gradually over a period o time hile playing This device is utilized in the irst movement, measures 53-58 Creating a gradual crescendo through the addition o stops is diicult to control, then, hile simultaneously employing the sell ox to achieve that smooth, gradual uild-up, it ecomes even more challenging Hoever, at this moment in the concerto, oth eet are ree to perorm the maneuver With a it o cheating using the crescendo pedal to add stops, this eect ill ork very successully, even or the novice This crescendo eect is used in the section shon in Example
Example English crescendo, mvt mm 53-58 4 S 4 Gt n n poco cresc (add stops) n rom a pedagogical standpoint, inclusion o this device may inspire the organists to look urther into the English Romantic School o organ playing and see ho these eects came aout and are used in standard organ literature or those already amiliar ith and accomplished at using this eect, this ill e a comortale moment A rapid decrescendo can e accomplished ith the sell ox Stops may also e removed The diminuendo is additionally acilitated as the upper voices drop out, There are several moments here ast passages ill require extra study Moving into the last e measures o the concerto, the chromatic passage may seem daunting to a novice player Looking into its construction reveals its simplicity and acilitates its mastery To urther assist in the learning process, ingerings have een included in the example The notes in the loer sta are a reduction o the chromatic line o the right hand, or rather, hat the chromatic line as ased on in its conception The actual music played y the let hand at this point is not included here As one detects technical diiculties located in other areas in the concerto, searching out these su-structures ill
reveal the inner lines that are used in their construction and thus acilitate the mastery over the passage in question The reduction and ingering are shon in Example Example Chromatic passage: ingering and construct, mvt 3 mm 354-357 4 4 3 4 3 n 3 3 n 4 3 4 Scale outline o irst note o each group Diatonic (C) 4 3 4 3 Whole tone scale 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 Chromatic descent laying this concerto should eel comortale, maye even amiliar What I have tried to do is incorporate certain techniques into the composition that relate to standard and amiliar organ literature This as done consciously or to reasons: irst to help in the learning process, so that even though it is challenging, it ould eel amiliar, and second that i the player is unamiliar ith some o the literature and the techniques required to perorm this piece, they ould e inspired to delve urther into the repertoire and various organ schools I strived to incorporate a comparale alance eteen the musical characteristics and the educational eneits it provides to the player
Chapter 5 ORM AND MUSICAL CONTENT The concerto is divided into hat appears to e the standard three-movement ormat, even separated and titled as such: I Intrada; II asso Ostinato; III lourishes and anares The movements also relect the overall tempo changes expected: ast-slo-ast The irst to movements are o similar length, approximately six and ive minutes respectively Movement III is almost tice as long at ten minutes, ut is structurally sudivided into to sections This alances the timing o the opening to movements, hich are conceived as a hole, though sudivided into the to sections or movements At the end o Movement I, rather than arriving at a inal cadence and a reak, a transition is made y ay o an interlude, using the to movements together Hoever they are distinct and vary in character and tempo Movement III is comprised o to large sections, this is even implied in the title Though the contrast eteen sections is not as emphatic as eteen the irst to movements, ne melodic material, a moto perpetuo toccata in the organ and a slo moving, descending chromatic scale in the pedals set this second section apart structurally rom the irst hal An overall alance is maintained through this scheme Example 3 graphically shos the timings o the three movements and the alance that the sudivision o Movement III creates 3
4 Example 3 alance o timing o individual movements Movement I Intrada The typical Classical concerto, has the hallmark o a strong cadence to conclude the irst movement, most oten, shortly olloing the soloist s cadenza What audience ouldn t ant to sho their appreciation ith applause at that rousing conclusive moment ut, ithout a strong cadence and conclusion, that tendency disappears In this concerto, the conclusion o the irst movement is signaled ith a massive chord This eakens the cadence and allos the irst to movements to e linked sonically, though a static moment is an integral part o the link Residual sound rom the percussion instruments, the suspended cymal and tam-tam continue to ring, provide a ackground revereration during one measure o instrumental rest in measure 05 Moving into the concluding moments o Movement I, in hat appears and sounds like a cadential arrival that completes the movement, the organ makes its presence heard y uilding a saturation chord, y progressively adding dissonant notes to the orchestra s stale sounding open iths o Cs and Gs These open iths ere even arrived at in a strong cadential ashion This sound, at the end o the irst movement, adds unrest and imparts a oreoding quality, setting the mood or the impending start o the second movement This character or mood change relects the strong ominous character o the
5 opening ith its agged melodic upard leaps The tonal center C is urther reinorced ith the orchestra arriving at the open iths o Cs and Gs throughout the orchestra This climactic uild-up, or saturation o all the chromatic pitches, is ound in the organ part It can e oserved in Example 4 The orchestral parts, the open iths, are reduced in this example or clarity Example 4 irst saturation chord, mvt I, mm 03-04 Orchestra (reduction) 4 4 4 Organ 4 4 The components o this chord are taken rom a complete D-lat 3, (the sudominant rom the Key o A-lat) inverted over the seventh (C) This sonority is shared ith the Neapolitan chord (D-lat) in the key o C It also emodies the hrygian relationship that is undamental to the structure o the concerto Hoever, it is the clash o the organ against the orchestra that drives the use o this chord The sheer eight o this unresolved dissonant sonority lends a staility or even inality o arrival to this moment The pitches employed are shon in a triadic root position or identiication in
6 Example 5 The transitional material springing rom this ill e discussed later, as it relates more to the second movement Example 5 Triadic order D-lat sonority, mvt I, mm 03-04 Returning to the eginning o the concerto, the three opening cells presented in the inds can e identiied as transposed three-note pitch class sets hen reduced to prime orm These structures are important in the compositional aspect o this ork Each o the irst three is (0 5), then the next to entries are expansions o the opening cells, (0 6) and (0 7) The ear ill hear approximations and directly relate each o these events to the other, even i they are not the exact intervals, especially ecause o the consistent rhythmic gesture oth the rhythm and the melodic motive are used as uniying devices throughout the concerto The motivic material is identiied in Example 6 Example 6 Motivic material, opening, mvt I, mm -4 4 itches reduced to closed position As played 4 (0 5) (0 5) (0 5) N (0 6) R (0 7)
7 O musical importance is the inormation contained in these cells, the rhythm in sixteenth notes, and the use o the seconds, thirds and ourths The ourths, or outer pitches o these cells, come to the ore in a rising scalar passage that leads to an orchestral tutti in measure 5 The scale passage is constructed on G-lat Lydian, ut arrives on the open iths C and G unexpectedly Hoever, preparation or this as estalished through the use o the G pedal in the strings and timpani uilding throughout measures to 4 Example 7 changes the rhythm, rom consecutive sixteenths to simultaneous eighths, and reduces any octave displacement or analytic purposes 4 4 Example 7 G-lat Lydian, mvt I, mm 5-6 n n n n In measures 5 and 6, a rhythmic descending pattern uilt on the pitches o the cluster chord, shon aove in Example 4, cascades through the orchestra In measure 7, an emellished descending chromatic scale makes use o the material o the opening cells, ut, no egins to saturate the inner space eteen the ourths and iths o the outer pitches inally, all pitches are introduced in the orm o a descending chromatic scale The chromatic scale takes on important structural importance in movements II and III This is urther discussed later in the essay
8 This descending chromatic line is never alloed to complete its descent to the octave rom the high point o G-lat, the descent is truncated a hal-step short The organ makes its irst entrance in A maor, eaturing a toccata over a road seeping melody in the pedals Example 8 shos the toccata pattern o the organ s irst entrance or analytic purposes, the pattern is condensed to three-note triads (0 5) that are used in the construction o the toccata, reerring ack to the opening motive o the concerto Example 8 Toccata pattern, motivic asis, mvt I, m 9 4 (Organ) 4 (reduced) (0 5) (0 5) (0 5) (0 5) Example 9 illustrates the added note structure o the organ s entrance ith the preceding measures containing the instrumental chromatic line and its counter line Note the imedded opening motives ithin these lines The motives are racketed and laeled to identiy these interlocked motives used in the construction o the line This means o uniication occurs throughout the concerto, a uilding o lines ased on, and related to, the motivic gestures o the opening Example 9 identiies these relationships, reducing the orchestra score to its to-part essence
9 Example 9 Interlocking motivic material, mvt I, mm 7-9 4 (orchestra reduction) (0 4) (0 5) (0 5) n (0 6) n 4 (0 5) (0 5) (0 6) (0 5) n (0 6) (0 4) (organ) The organ s entrance chord can e roken don into these smaller components as ell It includes the th and 3th chord actors and is used as the source material or the melodic line, irst presented in the pedal o the organ, then modiied in a consequent presentation y the inds and strings With each melodic entrance, the irst notes consistently relect the opening motives, though emellished They contain, in essence, (0 5) and also (0 7) The chordal material and the melodic lines contain similar material The chord is made up o interlocking triads o intervallic content o (0 5) The same intervallic material is ound in the melodic lines This provides the uniying orce eteen the accompaniment pattern and the melody When the melodic line is passed ack to the organ, it returns to the pedals It egins on the same pitch as eore, in act, each entrance has een on The line itsel, though, is altered each time, and no shits harmonically to the sudominant area The inds and strings reply and they move harmonically to the supertonic area The organ egins the melody once more, played ith the eet on the pedal keyoard This is o a sonic importance The registration or the pedal includes stops o 6 pitch This means that it sounds an octave loer than concert pitch Included are 8 pitches and upper ork, these sound at concert pitch and multiple octaves and the harmonics aove All this
30 imparts to the pedal line oth gravity and distinction In reality, the line ill sound loer and uller than the orchestra rendition o similar melodic material, due to the act that it is producing pitches one, to and three octaves loer than the string and ind version o the line The pedal s third iteration egins on as it did previously, ut the similarity changes quickly The rhythm is augmented and quarters replace eighths hile dottedquarter ith eighths replace the eighths and sixteenths used in the previous to statements Then the line moves in a step-ise descent, returning to that insistent G rom the opening The string melody continues reminiscent o those opening motives, no (0 5) Each o these entrances is shon in a simpliied orm in Example 0 or ease o reerence a split-measure is used, alloing a clear recognition o the dierent implied harmonic areas Example 0 Organ s entrance theme, development, mvt I, mm 0-4 4 (organ) (inds and strings)
3 Ne material presented y the inds and strings egins in measure 9 In the hrygian mode, this material eatures an insistent rhythm The prevalent use o thirds, ourths and iths in the melodic gestures up to this point has no all ut disappeared, ith most movement no y seconds and ith a prousion o scalar passages The organ solo part interects rapid scales during a single eat, adding to the energy o this section The rhythmic and melodic content o this hrygian gesture returns in various orms throughout the composition The musical line, as irst stated in the inds and strings, is shon in Example Example hrygian theme, mvt I, mm 9-30 4 4 ermutations o this theme quickly traverse distant key centers, ut, as the organ crescendos, the instruments drop out, and the organ restates the dotted-quarter eighth gesture rom measure 5 This is even restated in the original key and includes the descending chromatic line (mm 39-4) A transormation o the material takes place, and the solo organ continues ith a rie medieval chant-like section that is uilt y comining the movements opening three-note gesture ith the hrygian line, commencing in measure 47 It quickly morphs into C Aeolian and maestically arrives, inally, on a C maor triad, latant and exposed Organists, and composers o organ
3 music, avor C as a key center and avor the C chord itsel, ecause o the use o the loest pedal tones availale on the organ In act, in this concerto, the lo C has not een played y the organist up to this point, thus, making this, its irst arrival, even more eective Diatonic parallel chords, harmonizing an operatic melody in the organ part, and C maor scale patterns in the orchestra, reinorce C as the tonal center This tonality is immediately suverted through the use o a modiied hole-tone scalar descending line This tonal shit, accomplished through the use o a hole tone melody, is shon in Example Example Whole tone motive, mvt I, mm 49-5 4 4 Whole Tone Whole Tone A oodind entrance interrupts the lo ith the return o the hrygian theme Underneath, the organ continues its support ith the parallel chord movements No longer centered in any tonal area, these parallel chords impart an improvisational quality to the music Imedded in the use o these chords is a device previously presented ithin that initial chromatic line The device o not eing alloed to arrive at completion o its scalar descent Looking at the root movements o the chords, the descent starts on -lat, and is only alloed to descend to -natural, then orced to cadence on A-lat This arrival
33 is strengthened through the use o open iths as a stale sonority Counter to that descent, a synthetic scale uilt on hole and hal steps, reminiscent o the hrygian mode, soars aove it Example 3 illustrates the chords reduced to root position, making the scalar descent o the roots clear Example 3 arallel chords and synthetic hrygian scale mvt I, mm 54-58 4 4 n (Root movements) n In measures 58-59, over the organ s parallel chords, the inds interect an extended, altered and playully version o the hrygian melody No longer hrygian, in the extended orm it changes rom maor to minor This is in contrast to the organ s somer and contrapuntal presentation o similar material o measures 43-46, austere and chant-like Example 4 shos the oodind version o this material reduced to a single melodic line Example 4 Woodind s altered version o hrygian motive mvt I, mm 58-6 4 - - n - -
34 The organ replies making use o the opening cell s harmonic and rhythmic material emellished urther ith added ourths and iths The inds reiterate the gesture, as simultaneously, the string sections add a synthetic hrygian scale The organ moves to the ackground, and an open ith toccata emerges providing a static rameork or the instrumentalists Individual solos are passed ack and orth eteen instruments The strings enter as a section and present the same melodic material in augmentation providing a contrasting and calming eect A developmental section utilizes a dialogue eect o these to contrasting gestures This continues until, ith resolve, the strings arrive on octave Cs The organ relinquishes its sixteenth-note drive and in a modern version o auxourdon, parallel chords, in oth organ and strings, explore a more chromatic tonal area, only to revert to the octave Cs This is the position in a typical concerto here the cadenza is placed, and as i olloing this set orm, an organ solo egins ith a rie pedal solo The hands enter in a contrapuntal, imitative style This quickly uilds to several climactic chords Unlike a cadenza, it is not overly virtuosic The purpose o this section is to add to the orard motion o the concerto lo, at this point, is more important to this composition than the moment o carnival a cadenza provides as exempliied y Kerman He states: rom the standpoint o musical discourse, the cadenza is a disruption, a poltergeist in the stately home o Classical Music 6 This disruption does not happen in this concerto, in act, the irst movement progresses directly into the second eore this contrapuntal lourish turns into a ull-ledged cadenza, the orchestra returns tutti, stating, ith emellishments, the 6 oseph Kerman, Virtuosity/Virtú, in Concerto Conversations, (Camridge, Mass: Harvard University ress, 999), 7