Felix Mendelssohn, Virtuoso Organist (original) (raw)

TOWARDS AN AUTHENTIC INTERPRETATION OF MENDELSSOHN'S ORGAN WORKS

1985

A steady decline in the quality of organ literature began around the time of J. S. Bach's death (1750) , and continued into the early decades of the nineteenth century. Through the publication of his Three Preludes and Fugues, Op. 37 (1837) and the Six Sonatas, Op. 65 (1845), Mendelssohn brought an end to the most decadent period in the history of German organ music. It may justly be said that he founded the modern school of organ composition. Performers, teachers and critics frequently approach Mendelssohn's organ works from the perspective of the late nineteenth-century "symphonic" tradition, thus presenting a complete distortion of the composer's intentions. It is the purpose of this thesis to establish an historically accurate performance practice for Mendelssohn's important and unique

Rethinking Organ Music - The Listener's Perspective

The Organ Yearbook, 2015

In 2010, the Chair of Organ Musicology at VU University Amsterdam was re-established by Foundation Het Orgelpark. The Chair is part of the Faculty of Humanities; it aims at integrating research in the arts in general and research in organs and organ music. One of the major developments in the humanities in the past few decades invites to approach works of art as dynamic systems, not as ‘just’ static phenomena; any human activity is considered basically ‘performative’. This essay takes this invitation seriously with regard to organ music, by rethinking the ways it is made and perceived. In addition, the plans for the ‘New Baroque Organ’ at the Orgelpark are presented: the instrument is meant to challenge the acts of making music and listening to it in practice.

Emanuel Bach: A Composer ahead of His Time

2019

Up until recently, many musicologists perceived music history through the lens of what is known as the “linear view.” This is the idea that one “musical period” seamlessly gave way to another, with brief transitionary periods to bridge the gaps. As a result, composers were expected to fall neatly into categories depending on their chronological placement. For this reason, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the eldest son of J. S. Bach, was (and still is) regarded as merely the bridge between the late Baroque style and that of the Viennese Classicists. In the past half-century, however, scholars have begun to study Emanuel Bach in his own right, giving an honest look at his works without imposing any preconceived notions on them. These scholars became captivated with the “pre-Romantic” aspects of his style, especially in the genre he advocated known as empfindsamer stil, or “sensitive style.” These new insights into Emanuel Bach and other composers who are “ahead of their time” have had a pr...