Ballo del Granduca: Sweelinck came from a family of organists. He himself became a famous organist of his own time, as well as one of the most sought-after teachers and composers. Organist of the prestigious Oude Kirk in Amsterdam, Sweelinck wrote music that reflects the rich cultural climate of the Dutch Golden Age – a period of enormous expansion and prosperity, the period of such great artists as Rembrandt and Frans Hals. Ballo del Granduca is a set of vatiations based on a dance tune (“O che nuovo miracolo”) from Cavalieri’s intermezzo La Pellegrina, which was performed at the wedding in Florence in 1589 of the Grand Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany – hence Sweelinck’s title. The tune’s harmonic pattern was a common one, and many composers, including the great Italian composer Frescobaldi, made use of it.

Uppon la mi re: Attributed to the Tudor composer Thomas Preston, this work’s true author is unknown. It begins with the “ground” of bass notes a e and d (la, mi re respectively), with a canon in the tenor voice shortly after. Over this unchanging foundation, a freely evolving melody floats. The boldness of this melody makes you forget that you are listening to a work written five hundred years ago.

From Quatorze Gaillardes: In the spring of 1531, Pierre Attaignant published in his Gaillards, neuf Pavanes, sept Branles et deux Basses Dances, le tout reduict de musique en la tabulature du jeu d’Orges, Espinettes et telz semblables instruments musicaulxs, a collection of compositions for keyboard unstruments, especially mentioning the organ, most probably the chamber organ. The chamber organ used in performing this music likely contained no more than three or four stops. The composer of these delightful dances is unknown.

Introduction and Pastorale: Bernardo Pasquini was renowned in his day as a virtuoso keyboard player, and was the most important composer of keyboard music between Frescobaldi and Domenico Scarlatti. In fact, after his death medallions bearing his protrait were struck. He held positions in various churches in Rome throughout his life, and also enjoyed the patronage of various nobility including Queen Christina of Sweden. In his charming Pastorale, Pasquini was inspired by the traditional and popular pastorales played by Italian shepherds on schalmeys and bagpipes.

O Mensch bewein, In dir ist Freude: The title of Bach’s Orgelbüchlein (“Little Organ Book”) indicates that the pieces were written so that “a Beginner at the Organ is given instruction in Developing a Chorale in many diverse ways.” The two ways represented here are the short ornamented chorale and the short chorale fantasia. O Mensch, bewein’ is an example of the former, in which the heavily ornamented chorale melody is presented without interludes. The work’s depth of feeling and searing emotion prompted the French composer Charles-Marie Widor to remark that it is the most beautiful instrumental work ever written. In dir ist Freude is an example of the chorale fantasia and is built, as are other chorales of the Orgelbüchlein, around the through-composition of the chorale tune in the soprano. It is the only short prelude in which the counterpoint thoroughly penetrates the chorale melody itself, giving the impression of a fantasia.

Toccata: Max Reger was one of the few musicians of the post-romantic era for whom counterpoint was a natural means of expression. His writing is characterized by chromaticism and restless modulation. Born in Bavaria in 1873, he was a pupil of the important theorist Hugo Riemann and taught at the University of Leipzig before his appointment as conductor of the Meiningen Court Orchestra in 1911. It was during his tumultuous years in Munich, to which he moved in 1901, that he composed the Toccata. Though occasionally called “the second Bach,” Reger was a romantic through and through. Nevertheless, his work reflects his grasp of Renaissance and Bachian counterpoint, and the Toccata resembles a 16^th century piece in its free virtuoso style, and in the alternation of full chords with fast, running passages.

Prélude: Henri-Constant-Gabriel Pierné was a pupil of Céesar Franck at the Paris Conservatoire, where he also studied with Massenet, Duran and Lavignac. Pierné was organist at St. Clothilde from 1890 to 1898, immediately succeeding Franck. He later gained notoriety as a composer and as conductor of the Concerts Colonne. The Prélude is is typical 19^th century French toccata style with arpeggiated (style brisé) chords, beginning with foundation stops and gradually building to full organ.

Nazard: Langlais, blind from birth, succeeded Tournemire as organist at St. Clothilde, Paris, a position considered one of the most prestigious in France. The Suite Française is a work comprised of various movements, the names of which bring to mind the baroque suites of such composers as Grigny, Dandrieu and Gulain, featuring ‘La vois humaine’, ‘Jeu de fonds’, ‘Jeux d’anche’ and ‘Grands Jeux’. The name of the movement played this evening, Nazard, refers to a mutation stop on the organ, 2-2/3.

Boléro de Concert: Louis Alfred James Lefébure-Wély was among the most famous organists of his day. At eleven, he began substituting for his father, Isaac-François, organist at St. Roch, who had suffered a stroke; by age fourteen he succeeded him as titular organist. At the Paris Conservatoire he studied organ with Benoist and composition with Halévy. In 1847 he became organist of La Madeleine in Paris, eventually gaining, with the support of the French organ builder Caraillé-Coll, the position of organist at St. Sulpice in 1863, which then had the largest pipe organ in France. The Boléro de Concert was composed for the orgue expressif, and is written in the fashion of the Second Empire. The light character of the music and its audience appeal kelped to keep the organ alive during the lean years of the 19^th century.

Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major: This major work is the only triptych that Bach wrote for the organ, the usual toccata and fugue being divided by an Adagio that sounds almost as though it were transcribed from a violin concerto. That Bach originally conceived this as a three-movement work is indicated by the stunning harmonies at the conclusion of the Adagio, written in seven voices (!), which establishes the transition from A minor back to C major for the start of the fugue. The entire work seems to be modeled after an Italian Baroque concerto, and even Bach’s first biographer, Philipp Spitta, thought the work should be entitled “Concerto.” The opening virtuoso manual passages are answered by virtuoso pedal work, which precede the development of two motives in the manner of a concertante dialogue. Finally, following the wrenching last harmonies of the Adagio, the fugue, with its long theme of marked rhythmic character, is irresistible in its almost humorous gait.