The
creation of Charles Fisk’s organ building company in 1961 was motivated
by his desire “to build organs truly suitable for playing early music,
especially that of J. S. Bach.”1 Yet rather than copy any single
surviving “Bach organ,” Fisk incorporated salient features of
different historical styles into one instrument, creating a
historically-informed eclecticism. This approach to organ design produced
the magnificent instrument in Stanford University’s Memorial Church, an
organ which has become famous for incorporating two tuning systems, a
modified meantone and a well-temperament. Much has already been written
about the Stanford Fisk; recordings by Robert Bates and Harald Vogel have
demonstrated the versatility of the two tunings in French and German
baroque music, leading up to the organ masterpieces of J. S. Bach. In this
recording, I propose a different approach to the Stanford Fisk, limiting
my registrations to the sounds appropriate to the interpretation of Bach
and examining influences from the Italian style in his organ works.
The
design of the Stanford organ betrays its north-German bias, with separate
cases for the four manual divisions following the baroque Werkprinzip. The
Great, or Werk, in the large central portion of the case, contains a 16'
plenum, with 16' and 8' German reeds that blend well with the principals
and mixtures. This division also incorporates a Violon 8 and Spillpfeife
8,
labial
stops of the sort that Bach endorsed in his recommendations for new
organs.2 In true Werkprinzip fashion, the Rückpositive is an 8'
counterpart to the Great plenum. The Quintaton 8 and Rohrflöte 4 provide
timbres that were common on eighteenth-century Thuringian organs. The Rückpositiv
case is divided at either side of the console like that of the Fritzsche
organ depicted in an engraving of Heinrich Schütz conducting antiphonal
choirs in Dresden.3 This type of divided case gives its name to the Seiten-(Sides)
werk, located in small towers at either side of the Great case. With its
beautiful Schwiegel principal and separable ranks of upperwork, including
a 1' Sifflöte, this section of the organ convincingly renders Italian
music. The colorful consort sounds of the Brustpositiv, enclosed in a
small case just above the organist’s head, are not used for this
recording since they belong to the north-German tradition and were not
present on organs in central Germany where Bach lived. The Pedal division
contains impressive reeds: a Contra Posaune 32 and a Posaune 16 with
wooden resonators, like the instrument that Bach tested with Gottfried
Silbermann at Naumburg in 1746.4 Although the Pedal has few independent
stops because of space restriction in the organ gallery, a separate set of
pallets in the Great windchest makes it possible to transmit several stops
to the Pedal. Again, this aspect of design is based on historical
precedents: some early German organs used “borrowed” stops to save
money and space within the case.
Bach
is often portrayed as a musical sponge, soaking up the diverse styles of
French, Italian, and German composers to create a unique and personal
idiom for the organ. Especially vital to the genesis of his organ works
were aspects of Italian counterpoint and concerto technique. We know that
he was greatly influenced by Italian masters. In a letter to Forkel dated
January 13, 1775, C. P. E. Bach reports that his father “heard and
studied the works of Frescobaldi,” an assertion confirmed by Bach’s
ownership of Frescobaldi’s organ collection Fiori musicali, published in
open score in 1635. These sources confirm Bach’s interest in the early
Italian baroque style, an interest which bore fruit in his composition of
stile antico fugues and the Canzona in d-minor. But the Italian influence
on Bach does not end with Frescobaldi; perhaps the most salient aspects of
Italian style in the organ works are the driving rhythms, virtuosity, and
use of harmonic sequences borrowed from the late baroque concerto. Organ
transcriptions of orchestral concerti of Vivaldi attest to Bach’s
careful study of these works. His mastery of the “old style” Italian
ricercar was supplemented with elements of the lighter contrapuntal style
of Corelli. The Fugue in b-minor, an adaptation for organ of one of
Corelli’s movements for string orchestra, may be the result of an
exercise in the Italian style. Whatever the case, some of Bach’s most
famous organ works owe much to the Italians. It is the goal of this
recording to explore this influence with the timbres of the Stanford Fisk
organ.
Toccata
and Fugue in F-Major, BWV 540
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
The
bravura of the F-Major toccata, with its pedal solos and manual
virtuosity, contrasts sharply with the rather sober opening of the Fugue.
The two pieces may not have been written at the same time and in some
modern performances they are not played together. However, both are
included here to represent two diverse aspects of Italian influence: the
motoric rhythms and sequential passagework of the Toccata, and the
traditional alla breve counterpoint of the Fugue, with its chromaticism,
harmonic suspensions, and uninterrupted succession of subjects and
answers. Both pieces are unique in Bach’s oeuvre; the Toccata is his
longest extant organ prelude and its pedal part reaches to f1', an note
not usually included in the pedal
compass
of Thuringian organs. (Some have deduced from this that the piece was
composed for the organ in the court chapel of Weissinfels whose pedal
range extended to f1'.) The Fugue is the only thorough-going double fugue,
where two subjects are exposed in separate sections and then combined to
produce enhanced by the increasing rhythmic activity of the second subject
and by the more frequent use of modulation in the final section of the
fugue.
Concerto
in d-Minor, BWV 596
Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741)
[Allegro]
Grave;
Fuga
Largo
e spiccato
[Allegro]
Bach’s
study of Italian concerto style first manifests itself in organ
transcriptions he made while working at the Weimar court between 1707 and
1718. These include three organ versions of concertos by Vivaldi,
including the concerto in d-minor for two violins and cello obbligato,
Opus 3, No. 2, published in Amsterdam in 1711. The first movement is
noteworthy because it contains some of the rare indications of
registration in Bach’s hand. The composer specifies that the opening
should be played by the two hands on separate manuals using the 4' Octava
of each, while the Pedal plays an 8' Principal. Later, an 8' Principal is
added to one of the manuals as a 32' Subbass is added to the pedal. These
instructions provide clear evidence for the addition of stops during the
course of this movement, requiring the assistance of a registrant. (Such
registration changes will not, however, be heard in most of the other
works recorded here because this can distort the voice leading of
contrapuntal writing). The Grave provides a chordal introduction to the
following fugue. I have attempted to ornament between these chordal
passages in the top voice, as a first violinist might provide connecting
material to serve as an upbeat for the next entry by the enire orchestra.
A fugal movement is unusual in a concerto, and in his transcription of
Vivaldi's Fuga, Bach makes no distinction between the tutti and solo
groups that are present in Vivaldi’s original. Perhaps he felt that the
textural changes between statements of the subject and the episodic
material provided sufficient contrast. The long sequence of the fugue
subject is particularly Italian, and Vivaldi’s treatment of this theme
in the four-part invertible counterpoint gave the transcriber flexibility
in distributing the parts so that they would conform to the manual and
pedal compass of the organ. The third movement is an accompanied solo,
introduced by the orchestra with dotted rhythms evoking the siciliana. The
indication “largo e spiccato” suggests the detached bowstrokes of the
strings accompanying the solo violin, imitated on the organ with the
Violon stop. The final movement is an exciting display of Italian
virtuosity, with quick repeated notes, fast scale passages and rapid
manual changes.
Excerpts
from Fiori musicali
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Toccata
avanti la Messa della Madonna
Canzona
dopo l’Epistola
Recercar
dopo Il Credo
Bergamasca
These
excerpts from Frescobaldi’s Fiori musicali reflect the early Italian
style that Bach studied; they also provide an opportunity to use the
meantone temperament of the Stanford Fisk. The Toccata is a short
improvisatory introduction to the organ pieces for the Mass of the Blessed
Virgin. Frescobaldi’s use of fleeting motives that pass between the four
parts of the composition harkens back to the style of his longer and more
elaborate keyboard toccatas. The Canzona was intended to be played after
the reading of the Epistle. Its lively style derives from the French
chanson, a song containing spirited imitation of a repeated-note motive.
Frescobaldi’s Canzona is built around two such subjects, first presented
in the soprano and tenor. A rallentando leads to the second section of the
pieces and a characteristic shift to triple meter. A precursor of the
fugue, the Recercar (from the Italian verb “ricercare” meaning “to
search out”) is based on contrapuntal manipulations of a subject. The
chromaticism in this example benefits from the meantone temperament, whose
different sizes of semitone add expression to the melodic line. Unlike
most of the other pieces in Fiori musicali, the Bergamasca does not have a
prescribed liturgical function. Its title implies that it is based on a
dance tune originating in the vicinity of Bergamo in northern Italy. The
intricate counterpoint and changing meters employed to vary the tune
present many problems for the performer, problems of which Frescobaldi was
well aware, for he prefaced the piece with this remark: “Whoever plays
this Bergamasca will not have learned little.”
Canzona
in d-minor, BWV 588
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Bach’s
Canzona in d-minor may stem from his study of Italian forms, particularly
the canzoni of Frescobaldi. As heard on the previous excerpt from Fiori
musicali, Frescobaldi’s pieces are based on repeated-note themes, with
lively imitation of short motives in all parts and a sectional form based
on shifts from duple to triple meter. Although it begins
uncharacteristically, with a long solo line in the bass, Bach’s Canzona
resembles the Frescobaldi prototypes in its second section, which features
a change to triple meter and a repeated-note variation of the opening
theme. Attentive listeners will notice the use of meantone temperament for
this piece, which yields many beautiful consonances at the small expense
of a few sour D#s. The conservative harmonic range of this piece profits
greatly from the older tuning system; other works that modulate into
distant keys, such as the F-Major Toccata, demand the flexibility (and
diminished euphony) of the newer circulating temperaments that were being
developed during Bach’s lifetime. The two tunings available on the
Stanford Fisk make it possible to impart to the listener this transitional
aspect of Bach’s organ music.
Fugue
in b-minor on a theme of Corelli, BWV 579
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
There
is some question about the attribution of this piece to Johann Sebastian
Bach since there is no surviving autograph manuscript. But I have included
it here, transposed to c-minor to avoid the harshness of F#-Major and
B-Major chords in the Stanford well-temperament, to represent the study
and cultivation of Italian music by German composers. The two subjects are
taken from the Vivace movement of the fourth sonata in Corelli’s Sonata
da Chiesa a Tre, Opus 3, published in Rome in 1689. While the organ
arrangement differs in many respects from its apparent model, the Italian
style is clearly heard in the contours of the double theme and the use of
suspension and sequence to create harmonic tension.
Concerto
in G-Major Johann
Ernst (1696-1715)
[Allegro]
Grave
Presto
Bach
came into contact with Prince Johann Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar when he was
court organist to the Duke of Weimar in 1708-1717. The Prince was an avid
music lover; from 1711 to 1713 he studied at the University of Utrecht,
with trips to Düsseldorf and Amsterdam to widen his knowledge. After his
return to Weimar from Holland, he had Italian music sent to him, and he
took lessons in composition from J.G. Walther, the organist at the
Stadtkirche. Ernst’s appreciation of the Italian style led him to
compose orchestral concerti, including the one recorded here in an organ
transcription by Bach. The piece is characteristic of the Italian
concerto, with three contrasting movements which feature alternation
between an orchestral ensemble and a violin soloist with continuo. The
changes between tutti and solo in the first movement are rendered on the
organ be changes between manuals. The slow middle movement also contrasts
the sounds of two different manuals. Because of the speed and virtuosity
required by the last movement, no manual changes are made; nevertheless
the original ritornello structure is
clearly heard in the alternation between arpeggiated sections with pedal
and the more articulate two-part textures.
Toccata
and Fugue in d-minor, BWV 538
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
The
influence of the Italian concerto is evident in this freely composed
Toccata, where alternations between the main Werk and Rückpositiv are
clearly indicated. The animated dialogue that results from these manual
changes is heightened by incessant semiquaver movement and harmonic
modulations produced by numerous sequences. The following Fugue presents a
sudden change of mood and texture. Like the
F-Major Fugue discussed above, it contains aspects of the alla breve
style: 2/2 meter, contrapuntal complexity, and frequent harmonic suspensions.
This is one of Bach’s longest and most intricate organ fugues, with two
counter-subjects and canonic writing in the episodes separating the
subject entries. Despite this contrapuntal
emphasis, there are many striking harmonic passages which I have tried to
accentuate with an exceptionally full
registration.
©
Kimberly Marshall
1.
Robert Cornell, “Stanford: A Rare Opportunity for Organ Building,” The
Diapason LXXV/6
(June, 1984): 12.
2.
Hartmut Haupt, “Bach Organs in Thuringia,” J. S. Bach as Organist,
George Stauffer and
Ernest May, eds. (Bloomington,
Indiana, 1986): 26.
3.
Barbara Owen; ed. Charles Benton Fisk: Organ Builder, Vol. II
(Easthampton, MA, 1986),
p. 73; also Cornell, p. 12.
4.
Ulrich Dähnert, "Organs Played and Tested by J. S. Bach," J. S.
Bach as Organist, George
Stauffer and Ernest May, eds.
(Bloomington, Indiana, 1986): 20.