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Tell us your favourite Bach organ works!

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Ah yes, I have neglected to mention *O Mensch Bewein Dein Sunde Gross*, the Gigue Fugue, Prelude and Fugue (The Wedge) in E-minor, Fantaisie in C-minor, Fantaisie and Fugue in C-minor, Prelude and Fugue in B-minor, Toccata and Fugue in F-major, Toccata and Fugue (Dorian) in D-minor, and Toccata-Adagio & Fugue in C-major. And for the really weepy times, the Stokowski adaptation of *Komm, Susser Tod* transcribed fo organ by Virgil Fox. That one will have them reaching for bundles of Kleenex tissues.
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
. . . . . *Komm, Susser Tod* transcribed for organ by Virgil Fox. That one will have them reaching for bundles of Kleenex tissues.

Yes it does - that is my standard piece that I play for Good Friday services every year. There isn't a dry eye in the house at the conclusion of the piece, including mine!! It is one of the few pieces that totally drains me whenever I play it - even in my practice sessions long before the service - It takes every ounce of energy I have to get through this very moving piece.

This piece is a fine example that clearly illustrates that really slow pieces are just as technically challenging as the fastest ones, perhaps more so.
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi Krummhorn,

Yep, even a slow piece can be technically difficult - no doubt about that! I take it that you have played the Albinoni *weeper*? I played that one a few weeks ago. There is a really ravishing slow movement almost in the beginning of the second half of JSBach's St. Matthew Passion which is assigned to the Soprano solist. The flute has a dialogue with the Soprano - Oh Wow - I cry just thinking about it.

Corno Dolce
 

NEB

New member
Sadly the great seasonal oratorios don't seem to be performed so much these days. :cry:

Time was, they were on the calendar as an annual event.
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi NEB,

Yes, it is too true that the seasonal oratorios are not being performed so often these days, unless one lives in New York City and spend an afternoon at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church where every Sunday there is a Bach Vesper with a Cantata or an Oratorio. The same goes for if you live in Leipzig, Germany and attend the myriad of concerts there where JSBach rests. There you WILL get your fill.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce
 

NEB

New member
Even many of the choral societies that were regularly doing the Messiah/Matthew Passion plus a.n.other like Creation or Mozart Requ or the verdi//// etc in the third quarter 20 odd years ago seem to have either dwindled or disappeared completely.

I find it amazing that in only 10-15 years, so many choral societies that ran since the early twentieth century (or longer) have just simply gone!!!

I guess they just couldn't compete with the easy option that modern electronic entertainment supplies.
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi NEB,

Yes, it is lamentable how the state of affairs is for major choral works. If my memory serves me, Germantown, Pennsylvania has a thriving choral arts scene. A cursory search on the 'net for cities that have good choral arts representation would reveal some hidden gems. Paul Salamunovich and the Los Angeles Master Chorale are a great group.

*Modern electronic entertainment* and it's packed-to-the-gills following of consumers and connoisseurs of fine choral music are quite disparate groups. Few are those who listen to fine choral music and modern pop music. Those two categories of listeners, consumers, and practitioners are about as miscible as oil and water. I am a classical musician through and through who also loves choral music and also Jazz. I can listen to and entertain *modern electronic musical entertainment* but I can only tolerate it so much before it grates on my nervous system.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce
 

NEB

New member
Hi Corno Dolce. Yes - Been a musician all my life too.

There are a couple of really huge societies here in UK as well. Things like the Philharmonic Chorus in London and so forth. Same sort of thing you are talking about. But not all the myriad of smaller regional/town affairs that used to abound.

It really is just a different world in which we live and I must be getting old when I start to wonder whether 'progress' is really progress at all...
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi NEB,

Yes, one does tend to wax philosophical as one matures like a fine single malt scotch whiskey :):D:grin::cool::alc:

We should remember that we as the preceding generation have or have not laid the groundwork for the success or failure of the upcoming generation.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce
 

methodistgirl

New member
Is there a piece Bach composed for the holiday season. I know that
Beethoven wrote obe to joy in his 9th symphonie.
judy tooley
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi Judy,

JSBach wrote the "Christmas Oratorio" which I shall listen to later on today. His organ chorals: Ein Neugeborene Kindlein, Vom Himmel Hoch da Komm ich her, In Dulci Jubilo, Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland, Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, Der tag, der ist so freudenreich, Ich freue mich in dir.......There lots out there, Ms. Judy.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce
 

musicalis

Member
one of my favorite Bach's organ work (I have several) is the choral "Oh homme pleure sur tes lourds péches". I don't know the name in English, but I remember a little the title in German (I don't speak German but I enjoy so much this song that I never forget the german name for about 40 years). It is something like "Oh Mench Bewein dass sunde gross".
J-Paul
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi Jean-Paul,

You probably meant to say "O Mensch, Bewein Dein Sünde Groß". Yes, it is one of my alltime favorite of JSBach's chorals. It expresses, in an existential way, the predicament we humans find ourselves in whether we like it or not.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce
 

Argoth

New member
Hi Jean-Paul,

You probably meant to say "O Mensch, Bewein Dein Sünde Groß". Yes, it is one of my alltime favorite of JSBach's chorals. It expresses, in an existential way, the predicament we humans find ourselves in whether we like it or not.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce

Corno, would you care to elaborate on how this piece achieves this? It's the kind of thing I'm very interested in :)
 

giwro

New member
Hmmm....

I'll weigh in here -

P+F in a-minor.... especially the Fugue

Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C

*****

Like everyone else, what I'm partial to changes from day to day... right now these 2 come to mind. The a-minor was one of the first Bach organ fugues I ever heard... I loved the wonderful dancing 6/8 feel (didn't hurt that the performer was Hector Olivera... )

I also love the Sinfonia to Cantata #29, transcribed for organ by a number of different folks. I actually arranged it for string 4tet to be used as the postlude (recessional) to be used at my wedding.

Cheers,

- G
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi Argoth,

Thank you for calling me on what I said about *O Mensch, Bewein...*
I shall try to put it as simply as I can: Since JSBach was not only a learned musician but a Theologian as well - he had a copy of Martin Luther's Bible in which he heavily pencilled in notes in the side margins - He fervently and prayerfully sought out how to, through music, share the Gospel of the Living God. Through mankind's ignorance, the bliss and beauty of creation is destroyed. But through Faith in the Son of God, all can be made well. Bach the theologian/musician, for example, through the Passions and Sacred Cantatas quotes the Bible text which he then explains through music. Like an orator who uses different devices in order to convey the message, Bach does so through music.

In re to *O Mensch, Bewein...* when you listen and study to how JSBach "tells a story" through the melody and harmony of the piece, when you contemplate the meaning of the title of this work, Bach calls attention to the Crucified Christ, who was sold-out by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. What a ghastly treachery!!! Modern-day man is equally guilty of treachery. Bach calls on us to *Bewein* = Bewail our treacherous sin and nature.

As an aside to this, I read the works of Søren Kierkegaard, an existentialist philosopher who knew human nature well. As a musician, I am indebted to the mastery that JSBach had in music and in theology. Furthermore, I must inform my thinking with the existentialist school of thought through Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard wished that humans would individually question themselves on their own actions and ethics - where they themselves stood - independantly of others. Let me close this reply with one of my favorite quotes of Kierkegaard: " People demand freedom of speech in order to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."

Humbly,

Corno Dolce

Btw - I highly recommend that you read the tomes about JSBach which are written by Christoph Wolff. They will equip you to better grasp JSBach and the Timeless message he shares with all.
 

Argoth

New member
Thanks Corno, a most insightful explanation. I'll be sure to look up some of those books. I am vaguely familiar with Kierkegaard, but have not had the time to delve into his writings due to school work. With the break next month, sounds like a good way to keep me occupied.
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hello Argoth,

Kierkegaard is no easy read. Probably a good one to start with is entitled "The Concept Of Irony", then dive into "Either/Or" and let that be followed by "Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses". A capstone reading to complement the previous three books would be "Purity Of Heart Is To Will One Thing".

After you've finished those I will gladly share which ones should be next. I would be amiss if I did not mention that Kierkegaard was highly critical of the Lutheran Church in Denmark. He felt that the message they promulgated on Sunday mornings was anything but Christianity.

Cheers,

Corno Dolce
 

musicalis

Member
I will still have to say that my all time favorite is Jesu joy of man's desire.
I love that song.
judy tooley

For MethodistGirl

I love this song too. I have played it a lot of times. But do not forget it is not an organ song but a song from cantate 147. The real "Jesu joy of man's desire" must be played with organ and choirs. Like me, you have played organ transcription. Some transcriptions are very good, others very bad. What is very important is to use a transcription in which the 3 against 4 rhythm of the accompaniement is not lost. That is what makes this music so nice.
Friendly
Jean-Paul :)
 
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