BARTMUSS: Herbsttag & Allerseelen, played on Mustel harmonium

Описание: Richard Bartmuß (or Bartmuss, 1859-1910) was a German music teacher and organist. The son of a church and concert organist, and a friend of Guilmant, Bartmuß became organist at St. Mary's Castle Church in Dessau in 1882. Four years later, he was appointed as a court organist; in 1890, he became court organist to Duke Friedrich I, of Baden. In the same year, he married the concert singer and pianist Anna Schubert, with whom he raised five children. These two pieces, Herbsttag and Allerseelen, were part of his Opus 45, and were included in a "Neues Harmonium Album" compiled by Paul Hassenstein, probably c. 1910. Each of these pieces was introduced by a poem by W. Ketschau, which I include in translation:

Herbsttag (A Day in Autumn)
In quiet splendour, a broad stream
Of sunbeams and embers
Flows into the vast dome of the world
In a sparkling golden flood.
A gentle breeze wafts through the forest,
Detaching leaf after leaf from the tree;
Soon it lulls the weary earth
Into its winter dream.

Allerseelen (All Souls)
When the white mists roll in
On a cold autumn night,
And the leaves fall, wet with dew,
Then I think of you, think of you!
Oh, that you are separated from us!
It sounds like a dull lament within me –
I find peace again in celebration
On All Souls' Day.

Thanks to our friend Niels in Belgium, who sent me these pieces and the poem texts. The instrument heard here is an art-harmonium built by the Mustel firm in Paris, their # 470, dated 1887, and # 4321 in the Reed Organ Society database. Performed by Michael Hendron, recorded 20 January 2026.