Part 4 - Organ as orchestra

Описание: Part 4 - St. John's Lutheran Church, Orange. Baroque Festival, Organ concert, Feb 21, 2014. The organ as Orchestra

Trio Sonata #5, first movement - J. S. Bach
Concerto in D minor - Antonio Vivaldi, arr. J. S. Bach
Organ Concerto op 4 #5 - G. F. Handel

The next several pieces show how the organ developed not only into a solo instrument with its own particular literature, but also an instrument which can emulate the orchestras and orchestral forms of the period

The Bach Trio Sonatas are found in an autograph dating from Bach's first few years in Leipzig, where he lived from 1723. It is thought that Bach wrote them for his son William Friedman as lessons in the craft of organ playing. The trio sonatas emulate a common ensemble of the time of two solo instruments and continuo. Each of the voices is equally important and independent. For the organ, one voice is taken with each hand, and the third in the pedal. Given that most of Bach's organ works were composed early in his career, and certainly before he came to Leipzig, these may be considered some of Bach's most mature, and many say most difficult, works for organ.

TRIO SONATA

Vivaldi was a prolific composer in Italy, composing for chamber orchestra and many other ensembles. From 1708, Bach was working in the house of Duke Wilhelm Earnst. The Duke's son, Johann, acquired copies of manuscripts of some of the Vivaldi concerti. It is likely that in 1714, Johann Earnst commissioned Bach to do an organ transcription of these concerti, as well as a couple of his own. The piece I'm to play for you is a transcription of Vivaldi's d minor concerto grosso. You can hear the large portion of the orchestra, the Tutti, played on the main manual, while the small group of soloists, the ripieno, is played on the secondary manual.

CONCERTO IN D MINOR

GF Handel moved to England at age 27 and practiced there for the rest of his life. He was involved in the service of the court, as well as in productions of operas and oratorios (which are essentially unstaged baroque operas). At the time of the writing of the Organ Concerti in 1732, there were two opera companies in London: one was a company supported by the Price, who had fallen out with the King and Queen. This company had all of the current opera rock stars. The other company had the support of the King and Queen, and Handel. Handel wrote these organ concerti as intermission music to try to attract a larger audience, Handel being a recognized organ virtuoso at the time. As an organ concerto, there is interchange between the organ and the orchestra. At tomorrow's concert we will play another of the organ concerti with orchestra. The version I'm playing today reduces the orchestral parts onto the main manual of the organ. This reduction was done by the publisher in 1738 in order to increase the marketability of the works to the market at the time.

CONCERTO IN F No 5