ARILD SANDVOLD: Introduction and Passacaglia in B minor, Op. 4

FOREWORD Arild Sandvold’s Introduction and Passacaglia in B minor, Op. 4, is a cornerstone of the Norwegian organ repertoire and a considerable test of a performer’s perseverance. Sandvold composed the work in 1927 whilst staying in Leipzig. The following year, on the fourth of May of 1928, the work received its first performance in Oslo Cathedral and was published by Norsk Musikforlag. The publication bore the dedication to “Bishop Tandberg’s wife”, a gifted pianist – Betty Egeberg – who had studied in Leipzig. The publishers are pleased to present this new edition of the work. Arild Edvin Sandvold was born in Kristiania (as Oslo was then known) in 1895. He studied music there and passed his examination as an organist in 1912, at the age of 17. He also studied piano and composition. He held debut recitals as organist in 1916 and pianist in 1918. In 1921 he went to Leipzig to study organ with Karl Straube. He returned to Norway in 1922 as organist in Fagerborg Church, becoming Director of Music at Oslo Cathedral in 1933, a post he remained in until his retirement in 1966. From 1917 he also taught organ at Oslo Conservatoire and directed the choirs Cæciliaforeningen and Landskoret. Sandvold also gave instruction in liturgical music to theology students in Oslo. In 1946 he published an Organ School. Sandvold is regarded as Norway’s major organ performer and the country’s most influential church musician and organ teacher in the 20th century. Many of his pupils became leading church musicians and organ teachers. He also held a number of public offices; he was leader of the Norwegian Organists’ Union from 1936 until 1958. As a composer he was firmly rooted in late German romanticism, influenced by Max Reger; some of his works also reveal influences from neoclassicism and impressionism. The greater part of his production consists of organ and choral music. His list of works includes around twenty free organ works in addition to a number of chorale-based pieces. Of his choral works, Misjonskantate, for choir, soloists and organ (or orchestra) is perhaps the most significant, whilst his Fem latinske kirkekor are most frequently performed. Sandvold received a number of public honours for his work: in 1949 he became Knight of the Order of St. Olav, and in 1965 a Commander of the same order. He died in 1984. Passacaglias were at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th a popular form of composition. J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor was a model for many examples of this form. Bach extends the usual four-bar ostinato to eight bars. Typically, passacaglias are in 3/4 time, in a minor key and in a moderate tempo. Initially there are long note values, becoming gradually shorter and shorter as the work proceeds. During the romantic period this form could be used as a movement in longer works, as in Brahms’s Fourth Symphony and Rheinberger’s Eighth Organ Sonata, or provided with a short introduction, as with Max Reger. A romantic characteristic, which has also influenced the manner of interpreting Bach’s work, is a gradual crescendo from pp to fff, possibly interrupted by contrasting variations or other episodes. Norwegian composers have used this form both in orchestral works and in organ works. Ludvig Irgens-Jensen’s Passacaglia (1928) is an example for orchestra; organ passacaglias in addition to Sandvold’s include those by Sigurd Islandsmoen, Ludvig Nielsen, Conrad Baden, Leif Solberg, Knut Nystedt and Arnljot Kjeldaas, some with an introduction and some with a final fugue. Sandvold’s introduction is 34 bars long, whilst the passacaglia, the main part of the work, contains 171 bars and 20 variations. The ostinato is first presented in the introduction, in the pedals in bars 10–17, in the treble in bars 19–26 and, in shortened form, in the tenor in bars 27–30. The passacaglia, Andante sostenuto, presents the ostinato in a single voice, following Bach’s example. The theme is subjected to rhythmic variation and moves between different voices in some of the variations. The music departs from B minor only on one occasion – in variation 13, where the theme is heard in the relative major key of D. Variations 1–11

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