LITURGICAL ORGAN MUSIC in the LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Preconditions, Repertoires and Border-Crossings

10 DocMus Research Publications LITURGICAL ORGAN MUSIC IN THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Preconditions, Repertoires and Border-Crossings Edited by Peter Peitsalo, Sverker Jullander and Markus Kuikka LITURGICAL ORGAN MUSIC IN THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY LITURGICAL ORGAN MUSIC IN THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY Preconditions, Repertoires and Border-Crossings Edited by Peter Peitsalo, Sverker Jullander and Markus Kuikka Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki DocMus Research Publications, vol. 10 © The authors and the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki Cover illustration: Opening worship service of the first unicameral Parliament of Finland, held on 25 May 1907 at St Nicholas Church, Helsinki. Photograph by Signe Brander. Helsinki City Museum. ISSN 2341-8257 (printed publication) ISSN 2341-8265 (e-publication) ISBN 978-952-329-091-4 (printed publication) ISBN 978-952-329-092-1 (e-publication) Cover and layout: Mikko Puranen Printed by Unigrafia Oy, Helsinki Helsinki, Finland 2018 Contents 7 Introduction Peter Peitsalo, Sverker Jullander and Markus Kuikka PART I PANORAMAS 19 Revisiting Parisian Organ Culture from the Long Nineteenth Century: Models for Renewal in a Challenging Context for Religion? Kurt Lueders 43 From Rinck to Reger: Nineteenth-Century Organ Chorales Against the Backdrop of Bach’s Arnstädter Choräle Michael Heinemann 69 Liturgical and Liturgically-Inspired Polish Organ Music in the Long Nineteenth Century Krzysztof Lukas 89 The Training of Churchwardens and Organists in Nineteenth-Century Finland and Ingria Samuli Korkalainen PART II ACCOMPANIMENTS 109 The Increasing Role of the Organ in Nineteenth- Century Roman Catholic Church Music on the Example of Organ Masses in Austria and Southern Germany Maria Helfgott 133 ‘All These Rhythms Are in Nature’: ‘Free’ Rhythm in Plainchant Accompaniment in France around 1900 Benedikt Leßmann 153 A Biographical and Comparative Perspective on Ilmari Krohn’s Advent and Christmas Hymns for Voice and Harmonium Martti Laitinen PART III SOLO REPERTOIRES 181 Musical Dramaturgy and Liturgical Concomitance: Liszt’s Two Organ Masses Jonas Lundblad 209 Retaining the Fine Bouquet: Otto Olsson’s Use of Plainsong in Organ Music Sverker Jullander 245 The Organ Music of Lauri Hämäläinen in the Light of Liturgical Organ-Playing in Nineteenth-Century Finland Peter Peitsalo 279 Oskar Merikanto As a Developer of Liturgical Organ Music Jan Lehtola 302 Abstracts 315 Contributors 317 Index of Persons 7 Introduction The long nineteenth century was an era of transition, paradoxes and conflict in the area of church music.1 A time of continuing decline in the position of the church and the organ in musical life – a process already well under way in the latter half of the eighteenth century – it also saw the birth of several reform movements relating to liturgy, organ and church music, movements that not only shaped many of the developments in the following century but have also had significant repercus- sions on present-day practices. In Lutheran environments, the ideals of the Enlightenment and the emergence of new theological trends in its wake (‘neology’) favoured a pedagogically-designed, sermon-centred divine service, with the liturgy reduced to a minimum. In such a liturgical context, the singing of congregational hymns became an important element in shaping, uniting and educating the Christian community. By contrast, the primary functions of organ music in the service were to awaken religious feelings in the listen- er, to represent the sublime and the transcendental – two central concepts in Romantic music aesthetics – and to express the mood and emotional content of the congregational hymns. In the Roman Catholic Church, Cecilianism, with its strong preferences for plainsong and sixteenth-century polyphony, stood for historicism and a desire for restoration, but its cultivation of vocal genres (with or without organ accompaniment) was at the same time a reaction against the influential contemporary view of ‘absolute’ instrumental music as the highest form of musical art. Until recently, the long nineteenth century has been largely neglected in liturgical-musical studies, probably because of its lingering asso- ciation with ‘decadence’ – inherited from twentieth-century reformists. 1 The term was coined by the British historian Eric Hobsbawm in his trilogy on European history from the French revolution (1789) to the outbreak of the First World War (1914), published in 1962, 1975, and 1987, respectively. It has since been used by several other authors, often with slightly different start and end years. 8 Introduction As regards the organ music from this era, the traditional emphasis on progress, originality and ‘absolute’ music has led many scholars of today to focus on the emerging body of secular or paraliturgical works primarily destined for concerts, at the expense of liturgical composi- tions and musical practices. In nineteenth-century publications, howev- er, the use of the organ in the liturgy, far from being neglected, received a great deal of attention and was intensely debated. The focus of the present book is on liturgical organ music and liturgical organ-playing in its different forms: solo repertoire in the form of preludes, chorale settings, and postludes, accompaniment of congregational singing and other liturgical vocal music, as well as non-liturgical organ music echoing liturgical practices. In the last-mentioned case, it is of special interest to try to assess the im- portance of liturgical elements in the context of concerts, as well as to understand how non-liturgical concert organ music could gain acceptance in the church. Important thematic strands in the volume include: 1) Historical preconditions: the forms and practices of organ music in relation to the various kinds of liturgical singing (hymnody) of the time; influential liturgical and aesthetic ideals; and, in a wider perspective, theological, philosophical, ideological and social contexts 2) Border-crossing: how liturgical-musical practices and repertoires transcended confessional, regional and national boundaries. Special attention has been given to the central, northern and eastern regions of Europe. In this context, the role of liturgical organ music in the cre- ation of national identities is of special interest. All articles are expanded versions of keynote addresses, papers and lecture-recitals held at the international conference Liturgical Organ Music and Liturgical Organ Playing in the Long Nineteenth Century, organized by the Sibelius Academy at the University of the Arts Helsinki, 20–22 January 2016.2 The different formats of the conference contribu- tions are reflected in the articles. 2 Abstracts and programme: <http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201601294251>. Introduction 9 The book is thematically organized in three parts. Part One, Panoramas, takes a longitudinal perspective on the conditions of liturgical organ playing as well as selected repertoires, both in Europe’s centre (France, Germany) and periphery (Poland, Finland). Catholic and Protestant traditions are both represented. Kurt Lueders offers an overview of the developments in France in liturgy and church music in the course of the long nineteenth century against a background of dramatic political and cultural changes. The French Revolution brought about a crisis for the Roman Catholic Church which significantly affected the situation for organists, in addi- tion to the general weakening of the organ’s position in musical life in favour of the piano. Improved communications had led to an increased awareness of foreign culture, which gave rise to a sense of inferiori- ty among French organists in relation to the ‘profundity’ of German music since the time of J. S. Bach. By the mid-nineteenth century the ‘serious’ style of playing and composing, as practised and taught by Lemmens, began to challenge the prevailing opera-influenced, pianis- tic style of liturgical organ music. The author points to the irony of the ‘profane’ liturgical pieces of Lefébure-Wely pitted against the ‘sacred’ non-liturgical organ music of César Franck. In the latter half of the century, the reforms of Gregorian chant – resulting in a quicker and lighter performance style – had a profound influence on organ music as well, and the harmonies of liturgical organ pieces were increasingly based on the church modes. Finally, the author poses the question of whether looking at the nineteenth century can provide us with models for dealing with similar challenges that we are confronting in our own time, such as secularization and new modes of communication, and in particular, how music can offer a viable alternative to the virtual – or even fake – realities that surround us today. Michael Heinemann views from a German perspective the composition of organ chorales and the emergence of large-scale chorale-based organ music genres in the long nineteenth century in the wider context of the shift in the aesthetic and theological outlook around 1800, which had important implications for the function of the liturgy and of church music, in Protestant as well as Catholic contexts. The young 10 Introduction J. S. Bach’s Arnstädter Choräle – chorale settings with bold harmoniza- tions and virtuoso interludes, which allegedly caused confusion in the early eighteenth-century congregation of Arnstadt – are used to high- light various aspects of the complicated situation for liturgical organ music in the following century. The author disagrees with the view – dating back to the early days of the twentieth-century Orgelbewegung – of the nineteenth century as a period of decay in organ music and organ building. Instead, he holds that in comparing the organ culture of the nineteenth century with that of the eighteenth, one should not use the unique genius of J. S. Bach as a yardstick but rather the work of his contemporaries, the quality of which was rather equal to that of the following generations of organ composers. Although the nineteenth century was a period of change, there was also a continuity in organ composition, represented by the line from Bach’s pupils and their pupils to nineteenth-century composers of Mendelssohn’s generation.

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