Ian Tomesch, organ, Nov 30, 2017

Robert Blocker, Dean

doctor of musica l a rts r ecita l

Ian Tomesch organ

Thursday, November 30, 2017 • 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall

yale school of music

Ian Tomesch, organ November 30, 2017 • Woolsey Hall

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750

Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger 1839–1901

Organ Sonata No. 3 in G major, Op. 88 I. Pastorale. Con moto II. Intermezzo. Andante con moto III. Fuge. Non troppo allegro

Marcel Dupré 1886–1971

Cortège et Litanie, Op. 19, No. 2

Steven Sametz b. 1954

Three Preludes on Triduum Themes (2011–2017) I. Tenebrae factae sunt II. Velum templi scissum (world premiere) III. Haec dies (world premiere)

Maurice Duruflé 1902–1986

Suite pour orgue, Op. 5 I. Prélude II. Sicilienne III. Toccata

The performer wishes to thank Prof. Martin Jean, Prof. Thomas Murray, Joe Dzeda, the A. Thompson-Allen Organ Company, David von Behren, and Steven Sametz for their unfailing support and assistance in preparing for this recital.

This performance is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

artist profile

Ian Tomesch, organ Ian Tomesch ’12MM ’13MMA is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in organ at the Yale School of Music. Mr. Tomesch currently serves as university organist and adjunct professor of music at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, where he teaches organ and serves as organist for Lehigh Choral Arts. Additionally, he is associate organist at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ, where he assists in the administration of its nationally prominent English and Spanish music programs.

At Yale, he studied organ with Thomas Murray. Prior to coming to Yale, he earned degrees in organ and philosophy from Oberlin College, where he studied with James David Christie. He maintains an active solo and collaborative concert schedule, with performances at Harvard University, Princeton University, Trinity Church Copley Square, and St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, among others.

Recent performance projects include the complete works of Maurice Duruflé and Marcel Dupré’s magnum opus, Le Chemin de la Croix.

notes on the program

johann sebastian bach Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540 One of Johann Sebastian Bach’s longest keyboard works, the Toccata in F major, BWV 540/1, described by Albert Schweitzer as “a gothic edifice beneath the blue sky of F major,” attests to Bach’s ability to synthesize new styles out of more established ones. The two opening sections, each consisting of a two-voice canon in the hands over a pedal-point to which a third, free voice is added, followed by a virtuosic pedal solo, combine the improvisatory influence of Johann Pachelbel’s toccatas in which parallel thirds or sixths were common, with the impressive pedal work of Dietrich Buxtehude’s praeludia.

The ensuing section combines rhythms and figures of an Italian concerto combined with adventurous harmonies, as well as the rigors of Bach’s counterpoint. The repeated use of deceptive cadences and chromatic sequences heighten the drama.

As the work draws to a close, the pedalpoints return on scale degrees four and five before a final deceptive cadence (C major/minor seventh to a D-flat major seventh chord in third inversion), and a final sequence that brings the work back to F major.

The Fugue in F major, BWV 540/2, paired with the toccata, actually contains three distinct fugues connected by cadential elision. The first fugue, with its subject’s initial chromatic descent followed by an expressive leap of a minor sixth, is written in the stile antico, or sixteenth-century vocal style. The second fugue, with its angular and faster subject, also explores more remote tonal centers. The final fugue combines both subjects, often

simultaneously. Its harmonic and contrapuntal complexity makes an appropriate pair with the fiery toccata.

Unlike the preludes and fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, most of the traditionally paired preludes and fugues for organ were generally not written at the same time and may not have been performed together in Bach’s lifetime. The extended compass of the pedal line in the toccata, as well as extant manuscripts, suggest it was written after 1714. The pedal line reaches to the F above middle C, suggesting Bach wrote it during his time as organist in Weissenfels. The fugue on the other hand was probably written before 1731.

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Organ Sonata No. 3 in G major, Op. 88 Born in Lichtenstein in 1839, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger exhibited talent early in life, starting his career as a church organist at the age of seven. At age twelve, he entered the Academy of Music in Munich to study composition with Franz Lachner, a close colleague of Franz Schubert. He quickly gained a reputation of being a masterful composer and keyboard virtuoso. At the age of 28, however, a disease that permanently affected his right hand ended his solo career. He became professor of composition at his alma mater, teaching there until 1900.

Notable students included composers Engelbert Humperdinck and Ludwig Thuille, as well as the 1904-1919 dean of the Yale School of Music, Horatio Parker.

An avid researcher and advocate of early music, Rheinberger often uses earlier

notes on the program

compositional techniques in his works.

His output includes choral, chamber, piano, and orchestral music, but at the center are his twenty organ sonatas. Part of a project to write a sonata in each major and minor key, they represent Rheinberger at his finest—expertly crafted counterpoint, tight forms, and lyrical melodies give them a place of honor in the canon of organ repertoire. Written in 1875, his Organ Sonata No. 3 in G major, Op. 88 uses the eighth plainchant psalm tone as a recurring theme and countermelody in two of its movements.

The opening movement, Pastorale, begins with the first half of the psalm tone in the pedal, after which an improvisatory section follows in the style of the first movement of Bach’s Pastoral, BWV 590.

A second section follows in the same structure, but using the second half of the psalm tune. A third section follows in which both psalm tone and pastoral are combined, but with the cantus in the soprano voice. The second movement, Intermezzo, in E-flat major, presents a lyrical melody over simple harmonies, exuding a pastoral innocence. The movement ends on a half-cadence in G major, the key of the third movement. That movement, Fuge, with its angular and humorous subject, is one of Rheinberger’s most popular compositions. Following the pattern established by the first movement, at first both fugue and psalm tone develop independently. As the movement progresses, they are eventually combined with powerful homophonic chords presenting the psalm tone in the hands over the fugal subject in the pedal. The Sonata, with its combination of well-crafted counterpoint, memorable melodies, and

humor, is a microcosm of the broader themes of Rheinberger’s output, themes developed throughout his organ sonatas.

Marcel Dupré Cortège et Litanie, Op. 19, No. 2 Originally from a set of incidental music for a play, Dupré’s Cortège et Litanie was next incarnatied as a piano reduction, which Dupré played for a gathering of friends in New York on one of his American tours. Soon after, his concert manager wrote to Dupré saying he had been engaged for some future programs, and that an organ arrangement of the piece was to be on them. Dupré would perform the work arranged for organ and orchestra with Leopold Stokowski at a Wanamaker’s concert before arranging it for solo organ.

The Cortège, a solemn procession, evokes the ecclesial chorale with its largely homophonic textures and hymn like melody. Following is the Litanie through which a four-bar melody is repeated constantly, evoking the repetitious nature of a litany of prayers. From one voice, Dupré gradually adds others, and the resultant crescendo creates a sense of urgency to the supplication. After a massive crescendo, Dupré juxtaposes the theme of the Litanie against that of the Cortège, before a fortissimo coda in the French toccata style. Dupré scholar Graham Steed notes that the piece is “perhaps the ecclesiastical equivalent of Ravel’s Bolero.”

notes on the program

Steven Sametz Three Preludes on Triduum Themes (2011–2017) I first encountered the work of Steven Sametz while singing in a community choir in my spare time after graduate school. The work Nino de Rosas (Child of Rosas), the first of his Three Mystical Choruses, sets a text by a 17th-century Ecuadoran mystic about the birth of Jesus. Its impressionistic harmonies and clever but never pedantic counterpoint, combined with an intense lyricism, impressed me. It was by happy coincidence that, a few years later, I would work alongside Professor Sametz at Lehigh University, accompanying choirs performing many of his original compositions, often under his direction. After performing his composition Tenebrae factae sunt, which sets the Ambrosian chant for the fifth responsorial for matins of Good Friday, on a faculty recital in 2016, I approached Professor Sametz about a commission.

He generously suggested composing two additional movements to form a triptych.

The two additional movements set other themes from the traditional services in the Roman Catholic Easter Triduum.

The chant Velum templi scissum, on which the second prelude is based, sets the second response for the first Nocturne of Tenebrae during Good Friday: “The veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did tremble, and the rocks split apart and tombs broke open. And one to his side cried aloud, saying: ‘Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom.’”

(Matthew 2:51 and Luke 23: 45, 42).

Opening with the lowest sounds available

on the organ, Sametz uses the sustaining ability of the organ to make a massive crescendo on a cluster chord, under which the beginning of the theme is presented.

As more of the theme is heard, the speed of the cumulative chords increase, depicting the earthquake. Sametz depicts the entreaty of the supplicant through a quiet presentation of the chant underneath the organ’s undulating celestes. The kingdom of heaven is conveyed through presentations of the chant in distant key centers, before the earthquake tremors resume.

The final movement, Haec dies (“This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” [Psalm 117:24]), was conceived of as a sortie, or movement played at the conclusion of the Roman Catholic mass to cover the commotion as people exit the church. Its improvisatory quality and clear presentation of the chant melody in the pedal evoke the styles of César Franck and Charles Tournemire.

Sametz’s modal harmonic language, reminiscent of Duruflé, is innovative but appropriate for liturgical use. With the renewed interested in Gregorian chant within the American Roman Catholic church, it is my hope that these pieces will be useful for church musicians as well as a valuable contribution to the concert repertoire. I cannot thank Professor Sametz enough for his generosity, care, and attention to detail through the process of the commission.

notes on the program

Maurice Duruflé Suite pour orgue, Op. 5 With a small, but immaculate output, Maurice Duruflé stands as one of the giants of organ composition in the twentieth century. A choirboy at the Rouen Cathedral, Duruflé studied organ with Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne, longtime organist of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. With their help, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire, studying organ with Eugène Gigout and composition with Paul Dukas. A perfectionist, it is estimated that he destroyed ninety percent of his compositions to prevent any chance of publication. What remains are masterfully constructed and beautiful works.

Possessing a deeply conservative personality, he sought inspiration for his composition from older forms, most notably Gregorian chant, which he would have encountered as both a chorister and church organist.

Though this work contains no Gregorian themes, his style of melodic construction evokes that of chant, about which he wrote while discussing his Requiem, “As a general rule, I have tried to feel deeply the particular style of the Gregorian themes,” which might well be said of the theme from the first movement of his Suite.

Composed in 1932 and dedicated to his teacher Paul Dukas, the Suite has earned a well-deserved place at the center of organ repertoire. The Prelude, in E-flat minor, begins with an ominous B-flat drone, over which the main theme occurs.

The use of the drone throughout the movement showcases Duruflé’s masterful manipulation of harmonies. The following Sicilienne, in rondo form, uses modal harmonies to set a bucolic melody, and is

first presented on the oboe. Duruflé’s innovative registrational indications create textures similar to those of his orchestral works, especially his Trois Danses, Op. 6. The Toccata, one of the most demanding in the French style, showcases Duruflé’s skill as a virtuoso, while also evincing his well-established ability to produce long, lyrical melodies.

Though one of his most popular pieces, Duruflé disliked the Toccata. He revised the movement several times after its publication, including a new ending, the version of which is played tonight.

—Ian Tomesch

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