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Matt Machemer GRADUATE ORGAN RECITAL Matthew A. Machemer In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Church Music June 25, 2021 7:00 P.M. Chapel of Christ Triumphant Concordia University Wisconsin Praeludium in G Nicolaus Bruhns 1665 – 1697 While Nicolaus Bruhns was not blessed with a long life, he was gifted with incredible musical abilities and a keen compositional sense. He was both a gifted violinist and viola de gamba player as well as an acclaimed organist. By his mid-twenties, Bruhns had studied with some of the most celebrated musicians of his time, most notably Dietrich Buxtehude, who was particularly fond of the young musician and whose influence can be seen in Bruhn’s own compositions. One such example is Bruhns’ Praeludium in G: an excellent example of the Stylus Phantasticus made famous under by Buxtehude himself. The Praeludium in G is perhaps Bruhns’ most structurally significant work. The praeludium is ordered according to the common five-part structure indicative of most north German organ praeludia of the time. The piece opens with a virtuosic fanfare section, interspersing manual and pedal flourishes with more structured motivic material. This motivic material forms the basis of the first fugal section, which features six voices: four in the manuals and two in the pedals. One can imagine young Nicolaus, who was known to play the violin and the organ pedals simultaneously, delighting in this masterful display. A middle improvisatory section follows featuring pedal solos and manual figurations reminiscent of a fiery violin solo. The fourth section is the final fugue, which closely mirrors the first, though the subject is presented in a different time signature and features only five voices instead of six. The piece ends with a raucous conclusion. After a thrilling pedal solo which encompasses the span of the pedal board, Bruhns launches into an extended finale that recapitulates many of the motives heard throughout the work. Sonata III (1940) Paul Hindemith 1895–1963 I Ach Gott, wem soll ich’s klagen II Wach auf, mein Hort III So wünsch ich ihr Paul Hindemith enjoyed a long musical career as an instrumentalist, teacher, conductor, music theorist and composer. Although Hindemith was born in Jawor, Poland, he spent his early professional life as a violinist in Frankfurt and as a composition professor in Berlin. Sadly, in 1935, The Nazi regime forced Hindemith to take a “leave of absence” from his professorship because of his “degenerate” compositions. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1940, Hindemith held a professorship at Yale until 1953 when he moved back to Europe: teaching at the University of Zürich until 1957. Hindemith was one of only a handful of twentieth-century composers to write for organ, composing three organ sonatas between 1937 and 1940. Unlike the first two sonatas, which adhere more to traditional sonata forms, in Sonata III Hindemith looks back to Germany for his source material: utilizing a different folk tune in each of the work’s three movements. Movement I’s melody appears first in the pedal, accompanied by contrapuntal and canonically organized voices in the manuals. After a brief interlude, the melody returns, this time in the right hand, in a chorale-type setting characterized by a massive crescendo. Movement II is a rational and calculated movement. The folk tune appears in the left hand accompanied by motivically derived voices in the right hand and a steady pedal pulse. Movement III is a sprightly movement where the folk tune appears again in the pedal surrounded by playful figurations in the upper voices. Sonata III is indicative of Hindemith in a larger sense. It is a meticulously written work in which the composer uses “a knowledge of the past in a highly personal, contemporary manner.” O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig (BWV 656) Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750 To overestimate the Johann Sebastian Bach within the scope of western music is nearly impossible. He is remembered as arguably the single most gifted composer the world has ever seen, and his music represents the pinnacle of the western musical tradition. Yet, Bach was, first and foremost, a Lutheran church musician. He was devoted to the concept of a well-regulated church music, a goal he pursued throughout his career and achieved most completely when he was appointed Kantor for the town of Leipzig in 1723. The organ chorale, O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig, is part of a larger set of organ chorales commonly referred to as the “The Great Eighteen” or the “Leipzig Chorales.” These were intended for use in service of the church worship life of the Lutheran parishes in Leipzig. Although Bach most likely composed these chorales earlier in his career (perhaps during his time in the court service of Weimar from 1708 to 1717), he formally compiled these compositions into a single collection during his tenure in Leipzig. O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig is divided into three sections, each illustrating one stanza of the Lutheran chorale upon which it is based: “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy.” The first verse features the melody in the top voice while the bottom two voices accompany the melody in delicate contrapuntal lines. In the second verse, the melody moves to the alto voice while the soprano and tenor lines surround it in sequential patterns. In verse 3 Bach brings in the pedal voice for the first time and changes the time signature from 3/2 to 9/4. Cross-shaped motives accompany the melody in the manuals and builds to a striking and intensely chromatic moment where Bach intentionally paints the word “verganzen” from the chorale, which translates as “lose heart” or “despair.” The chromaticism gives way to ascending and descending figures in the manuals as Bach illustrates the closing text of the hymn, “Thy peace be with us.” Hymn 454 “Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle” settings by Matthew Machemer b. 1985 Stanza 1 All Stanza 2 Women and Girls Stanza 3 All Stanza 4 Men and Boys Stanza 5 All, standing Prelude and Fugue in D Major (BWV 532) Johann Sebastian Bach Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D Major is among the master’s most frequently performed organ works. The prelude bears striking resemblance to the organ works of Bach’s predecessors, particularly Buxtehude, who was well known for his spacious and virtuosic organ works. Bach’s prelude is organized into three contrasting sections. The first is a fiery toccata-like section that begins with dramatic—and technically challenging— scales played in the pedals. A lengthy and formal fugal section follows before the prelude concludes with an adagio featuring double pedal and dense harmonic writing. The fugue is one of the composer’s purest examples of Spielfuge, a style of fugal writing which mimicked the “rich tradition of instrumental virtuosity and figural play.” These types of fugues were often quick moving and brilliant and Bach’s Fugue in D is no exception. It is a piece in constant motion, using small melodic motives to great effect and ending in dazzling fashion; featuring a lengthy pedal solo that concludes succinctly but with great exclamation. Rubrics: A Liturgical Suite for Organ Dan Locklair b. 1949 4. The Peace may be exchanged. Dan Locklair is a professor of music and composer-in-residence at Wake Forest University. He is among the most prolific of living American composers, writing works for chamber ensemble, band, orchestra, organ, piano, choir, and the stage. His compositions are defined by an “economy of means,” which give his works a minimalistic flavor. His multi-movement organ work, Rubrics, is no exception. Commissioned in 1988 for the Organ Artists Series of Pittsburgh, Rubrics has quickly become a staple in the American organ repertoire. Each of its five movements is based upon the rubrics (liturgical instructions) present in The Book of Common Prayer. “The Peace may be exchanged” is the fourth movement in the suite, and its text is taken from a brief rite entitled “A Thanksgiving for the Birth or Adoption of a Child.” In this striking beautiful aria, Locklair utilizes simple rhythmic and melodic motives to great effect, using dense writing in the manuals and double pedal to create a sonic tapestry that is subtle and moving. Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain (op. 7) Maurice Duruflé 1902–1986 Perhaps no other composer in the modern era has achieved so much with so little. Maurice Duruflé was, by all accounts, a man who was both inspired and meticulous in his compositional craft, tearing “his music out of himself bit by bit.” Despite his small compositional output, Duruflé’s music drips with objective and aesthetic value, whose “meaning is too rich to be limited to one meaning only, and too broad to be time-bound or dated.” Duruflé’s Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain was written in honor of Jehan Alain, a celebrated French organist and composer who was killed in World War II. Both the prelude and fugue use the letters in Alain’s name (A L A I N) to construct a musical melody (A D A A F) that serves as the foundation for the entire work. In the prelude, Duruflé uses the ALAIN motive as a sprightly theme that can be characterized as “perpetual motion in triplets.” Throughout the prelude, this theme is combined with a free flowing and chant- like theme modeled after one of Alain’s own melodies. The prelude ends with a clear statement of the main melody from Litanies, Jehan Alain’s most famous organ work. The fugue is constructed in a similar fashion, using two equally significant (though contrasting) musical subjects that Duruflé develops and combines with admirable skill.
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