Robert Blocker, Dean
doctor of musical arts degree recital David Simon, organ
Thursday, September 29, 2022 | 7:30 pm | Christ Church
Nicolaus Bruhns 1665–1697
Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750
Praeludium in E minor, INB 4, “The Great”
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 intermission
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger 1839–1901 César Franck 1822 1890
Herbert Howells 1892–1983
Organ Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 161 I. Phantasie. Maestoso IV Fuge. Allabreve
Fantaisie in A major, FWV 35
Rhapsodies, Op. 17 I. Moderato, tranquillo III. Moderato, ma appassionata
This performance is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.
Artist Profile Program Notes by the performer
David Simon, organ
David Simon is an organ recitalist, improviser, instructor, and liturgical musician. He is the First Prize winner of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO) national organ competition and the University of Michigan organ improvisation competition. David first studied music as a chorister at St. Michael’s CathedralBasilica in Toronto and continues to play organ at its weekly masses. He teaches organ, piano, music theory, and Gregorian Chant at St. Michael’s Choir School. By fully embracing digital media, his private studio extends to students across North America. David is a doctoral candidate at Yale University in the studios of Thomas Murray and Jeffrey Brillhart. He is a Fellow of the RCCO, winning prizes for top national achievement.
Praeludium in E minor, “The Great” bruhns
To improvise in the stylus phantasticus requires the organist to shock their audience with unexpected shifts of mood, texture, and harmony, tied together with dramatic flair and compelling rhetoric. It is commonly associated with composers of the North German organ school including Dietrich Buxtehude, Vincent Lübeck, and Nicolaus Bruhns. To improvise in the stylus phantasticus was one of the defining characteristics of a virtuosic organist.
The North German praeludium is a form of composition inspired by such improvisations. It alternates improvisatory passagework with contrapuntal sections. Bruhns maintains these textural contrasts in his praeludium, but distinguishes “The Great” from other praeludia by using several of his compositional trademarks. Famously capable of improvising on his violin while accompanying himself on the organ with his feet, Bruhns includes double-pedal writing and imitation of string parts in “the Great”.
Program Notes, cont.
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor bach
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G minor features some of Bach’s most dramatic writing and intense chromaticism. Inheriting the stylus phantasticus from Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Froberger, Bach’s Fantasia contains unexpected harmonic shifts, changes of texture, and use of tonally-distant key areas, taking the idea of phantasticus to a glorious and painful zenith.
The process of composition and improvisation were closely linked in the Baroque era as many compositions started as improvisations that were later written down. Bach’s biographer Phillipp Spitta claimed that the Fugue in G minor was improvised as part of Bach’s audition for the organist position at the Jacobikirche in Hamburg. The thought that these two movements might have originated as improvisations is a testament to Bach’s harmonic ingenuity and his improvisational skill for which he was renowned.
Organ Sonata No. 13 rheinberger
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was born in Vaduz, Lichtenstein, and spent most of his professional life in Germany as an organist, composer and court conductor for King Ludwig II of Bavaria. His works blend romantic melody and contrapuntal mastery within a conservative harmonic language. In addition to their memorable lyrical themes, Rheinberger’s organ sonatas incorporate archaic elements including the tonus peregrinus (the fourth sonata), passacaglia (the eighth sonata), and fugues which end many of his twenty sonatas.
Rheinberger’s Phantasie from his thirteenth sonata retains some historical elements of the phantasticus, but contrasting lyrical themes prevail over the shock-and-awe of the North German organ school. The declamatory solo voice which opens many of Buxtehude, Bruhns, and Bach’s praeludia appears in Rheinberger’s Phantasie simply as a short transitory recitative. The common thread between Rheinberger and his predecessors’ fantasias is therefore more of function; the fantasia is distilled to its origins as a composition that emulates how contemporary improvisation might have sounded.
Fantaisie in A major franck
Known as the father of the French Symphonic school of organ playing, César Franck was an influential organist, composer, and teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris. In contrast to his successor Charles-Marie Widor, Franck’s classes at the Conservatoire prioritized study of improvisation over repertoire interpretation. Franck’s organ compositions were inspired by the symphonic capabilities of the Cavaillé-Coll Organ at the Basilica of St. Clotilde where he would have improvised every week as part of his job.
Franck’s Fantaisie reconciles the dramatic unfolding of a fantasia while retaining the mold of sonata form. The opening unison melody, punctuated by chords, hearkens back to the traditional opening of a Baroque fantasia, yet the lyrical themes, stormy section, and sonata form are distinctly Franck. At the end of the Fantaisie and after hearing the themes return triumphantly, the piece ends bleakly. It is as if Franck intended the emotional trajectory of the piece to be as unexpected and surprising as the harmony he composed.
Rhapsodies howells
English composer Herbert Howells wrote these three rhapsodies during the First World War. His compositional style draws heavily on the English cathedral choral tradition, blending the modal polyphony of Tudor composers with contemporary harmonies and earthy sonority. His sacred choral and organ works are an enduring contribution to the cathedral repertoire.
Composed in 1915, the first rhapsody opens quietly with oscillating harmony in the Dorian mode, a nod to modal plainsong. As the incense clears, a gradual crescendo and increase of rhythmic activity lead us to the climax of the piece on full organ before concluding with the blissful quiet from which the piece began.
The third rhapsody has the opposite trajectory. Written during a Zeppelin raid on York in 1918, one can hear the bombs dropping through the impassioned descending chromatic theme of the opening. A plaintive second theme on the ethereal sounds of the organ is later transformed into a dirge-like funeral march which fades into nothingness. At this point, Howells unleashes one of the most thrilling passages in all of organ repertoire: a glorious crescendo and rebirth which conclude his wartime trilogy of rhapsodies with a ray of hope in the darkness.
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