JS Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor ("Dorian") BWV 538

[Corno Dolce]

Hi CT64,

Fair and fair...When I think of great organ building it is usually Cavaille-Coll, Father Willis and Aeolian-Skinner. Todays builders would be Schoenstein, Casavant, Lively-Fulcher, and Klais.

Cheers,

CD

[John McEnerney]

Hi All

I play BWV-538 every 3 months or so at the church where I play the organ. IMHO the selection is of medium difficulty except for the long trill with counterpoint in measures 29-31, where it is possible to run out of fingers if you are not careful with fingering.

The problem with tempo of course is that it is really impossible to pick a good one and stick with it for all situations. Too fast is too fast. There are live acoustics and then there are churches with reverb times that last for 10 seconds or more. In the latter case it is possible to play so fast that the result is a hugh mash of sound where the casual listener cannot distinguish the notes.

I have always maintained that you are not just playing the organ, you are playing a building as well.

John McEnerney

[Corno Dolce]

Hi Mr. John McEnerney,

Welcome aboard - Please do make yourself feel right at home and stay for a spell. As an organist/vocalist/pianist I most certainly agree with your statement "playing a building as well". It hearkens to the phrase which Ernest Skinner said *the acoustics are the most important stop on the organ*.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce

[PaulBunting]

For a slower, more comprehensible, performance of BWV 538, I can recommend Dr Albert Schweitzer's 1951-2 recording at his Gunsbach Parish Church in Alsace. Also I can recommend his joint edition of Bach's organ music with his teacher Charles Marie Widor (published by G Schirmer). In their notes, Schweitzer and Widor comment of BWV 538 "In order that this marvel of musical architecture shall impress the listener, it must be performed in a tranquil tempo and strict time".

A 1960s Columbia LP was my first hearing of Dr Schweitzer's recording. It is now available in a CD box set of his Bach recordings. Unfortunately the transfer to CD appears to have accentuated the reeds making them too brassy and lost some of the diapaison tones, but it is still useful to listen to. Of course, musical scholarship has continued on since Dr Schweitzer's time and many organists today might disagree with his tempo. One useful bit of evidence is that Schweitzer said of Strassbourg's old Silbermann organs he strived to save from modernisation, that their deep keyfall and heavy tracker action made impossible certain things you can do with modern organs including playing very fast. I have two other recordings of BWV 538: Marie Claire Alain (organ unspecified) and Lionel Rogg on a restored Silbermann organ at Arlesheim in Switzerland. They both play faster than Schweitzer, but at the loss of some of the melodic structure of the piece. Rogg's rather bright registration obscures the melody. So I commend Dr Schweitzer's judgement in this matter. In his recording of the great E Minor Prelude and Fugue made on an old Silbermann organ at St Aurelie in Strassbourg, he plays fast enough. Perhaps he judged his tempi according to what would make the listener appreciate and understand the music. It is important to study this as well as historical veracity. PaulBunting