ORGAN: king of instruments
Stefan Engels
YOU DON’T USUALLY hear the organ played at this volume or level of intensity, certainly not in church.
Last night, as part of Bach Festival Charleston at First (Scots) Presbyterian, guest artist Stefan Engels pulled out all the stops—literally—as he performed works by J.S. Bach and Sigfrid Karg-Elert, two of Germany’s and the world’s most prolific writers of organ music.
Both composers spent the better part of their adult lives in Leipzig Germany where, since 2005, Stefan has been Professor of Organ at the prestigious University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.” Yes, Mendelssohn also taught there in his day—a fact we learned from Stefan during his afternoon lecture prior to the concert.
The evening program began with Bach’s Concerto in C Major (BWV 594) which is a transcription of Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Major for violin, strings, and basso continuo. Throughout the piece it was interesting to listen for Vivaldi’s violin, strings, and bass line coming from the organ’s range of sounds. The last movement, the Allegro, was clearly the most alluring because of how Bach more than elaborately extended the cadenza to end the piece.
We then jumped forward some 150 years to the music of Karg-Elert who studiously adopted Bach’s compositional forms for his own organ works, and who brought a new dimension of colors to his own romantic and impressionistic works for the instrument. We heard his “Bodenseepastellen” (Opus 96)—Pastels from the Lake of Constance—which he wrote during a family visit to the lake. Just imagine what kind of sounds you might associate with a mountain lake in Germany which, when put to three movements of organ music, had titles like “The Soul of the Lake,” “The Sun’s Evensong,” and “Hymn to the Stars.”
I doubt you have ever heard such an extended, eerie bass sound coming from the organ. From what we heard, that must be one cold, bottomless lake in an evocative setting. Stefan’s treatment of the music was also intriguing as he used a variety of stops (registers) to draw out the luminous sounds of things like bells, the flute, and the oboe—to name just a few.
He then returned to Bach and played three pieces: Fantasia in g minor (BWV 542), Canzone in d minor (BWV 588), and Passacaglia et thema fugatum in c minor (BWV 582)—all of which were Baroque forms that Bach used. Notice that all three were written in a minor key and you will understand why this was the most demanding part of the evening for the audience. As human beings we are already so easily impacted by the sound of music that when it comes to the colossal effects of the organ on us we are almost helpless. More than just a few eyelids were drooping, but fortunately we were all happily woken up by the spirited fugue at the end which, as is usual with Bach, was beautifully articulate, intricate, and flowing.
Stefan then demonstrated how Karg-Elert employed those same forms—fantasia, canzone, passacaglia, and fugue—in his Symphonic Canzone in c minor (Opus 85/2). It was noteworthy to see that, although he used the same forms, he did not just imitate Bach. Karg-Elert not only incorporated them as one, instead of as separate movements, he also gave them a different treatment. For example, even though this piece, like the Bach ones, was in primarily a minor key, it included a wider range of contrasts in terms of texture, color, and volume.
The only thing that seemed unclear was “was it over?” when it ended. After what felt like a very long pause, local organist William Grudger (from St. Luke and St. Paul) kindly led the hushed audience of several hundred in applause. Those seconds of absolute silence in the church, though, were golden—and a deserving tribute to our guest musician who worked much harder than you might think wielding a console of four keyboards and an array of foot pedals.
Herr Engels gave an informative lecture and concert—I felt like I was in class at his university today—and it was especially interesting to hear Bach’s organ music compared to another prolific German organ-composer many generations later. It’s clear that there is still a lot to learn and appreciate about this “king of instruments.”
Read the pre-performance interview with Stefan Engels.
Learn more about Bach Festival Charleston.
