Jesu dulcis memoria

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JesuDulcisMemoriaSm

Jesu dulcis memoria is a hymn often attributed to St Bernard of Clairvaux. The original poem, depending on the manuscript, ranges from forty-two to fifty-three stanzas. Three sections of it are used as hymns in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus: “Iesu dulcis memoria” (Vespers), “Iesu rex admirabilis” (Office of Readings), “Iesu decus angelicum” (Lauds).

Several English hymns sung today are based on translations of Jesu dulcis memoria. These include “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts” (1858 translation by Ray Palmer) and “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee” (1849 translation by Edward Caswall).

Anton Heiller

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Heiler-1Anton Heiller (1923 – 1979) was an Austrian organist, harpsichordist, composer, and conductor. Born in Vienna, he was first trained in church music by Wilhelm Mück, organist of Vienna’s Stephansdom with further study at the Vienna Academy of Music under Bruno Seidlhofer and Friedrich Reidinger. In 1945, he both graduated from the Academy and was appointed organ teacher there. He was promoted to professor in 1957. In 1952 he won the International Organ Competition in Haarlem, The Netherlands. His students include Yuko Hayashi, Bernard Lagacé, Peter Planyavsky, Michael Radulescu, Christa Rakich, Christa Rumsey, David Sanger, and Jean-Claude Zehnder.


Biography:

Anton Heiller: Organist, Composer, Conductor
by Peter Planyavsky and Christa Rumsey
Eastman Studies in Music, University of Rochester Press (November 1, 2014)

Audio:
Heiller’s performances as a competitor in the 1953 Haarlem Improvisation Competition can be heard at the NCRV archive here.

Xaver Varnus

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varnus-xXaver Varnus is a Hungarian-born Canadian organist, improvisor, writer, and television personality. His first piano teacher was Emma Németh, one of the last pupils of Claude Debussy. At sixteen, he undertook his first concert tour of Europe. In 1981 Varnus left Hungary to study with Pierre Cochereau in France. Over the course of his short career, Xaver Varnus has played to more than six million people worldwide, recorded 51 albums, made sixty concert films, and written five books.


YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/xavervarnus

Videos:
Improvisation on three given themes – Walcker Organ
Xaver Varnus – Improvisation on a theme by Jean Guillou – St. Eustache, Paris
Xaver Varnus – Improvisation on a theme of Stokowski – Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, Philadelphia
Xaver Varnus – Variations on Frère Jacques – Dominican Church, Budapest

Symphony

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A symphony is a multi-movement form, usually tonal with the first movement in sonata allegro form. While originating as a suite of pieces for orchestra, as the tone palette of the organ grew, it migrated to a form for the newer romantic/symphonic organ. Though the very first organ symphony was written by German composer Wilhelm Valentin Volckmar in 1867, the genre is mainly associated with French romanticism. César Franck wrote what is considered to be the first French organ symphony in his Grand pièce symphonique, and the composers Charles-Marie Widor, who wrote ten organ symphonies, and his pupil Louis Vierne, who wrote six, continued to cultivate the genre. The Symphonie-Passion of Marcel Dupré is the reconstruction of an improvisation by Dupré that he made at Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia on 8 December 1921. While classical symphonies (and those written compositions) developed original material, it seems most improvised symphonies follow the pattern of Dupré in utilizing chants, chorales, or other themes known to the audience.

Videos:
Nigel Allcoat – Symphonie Improvisée on ‘Salve Regina’ – St Nicolas du Chardonnet, Paris
Jean-Baptiste Dupont – Symphonie improvisée playlist- St-Joseph, Bonn Beuel (Germany)
Noël Hazebroucq – Symphonie Improvisée 1: Allegro Sonate – La Madeleine, Paris
Noël Hazebroucq – Symphonie Improvisée 2: Scherzo – La Madeleine, Paris
Noël Hazebroucq – Symphonie Improvisée 3: Cantilène et toccata – La Madeleine, Paris
Otto Maria Krämer – Symphonie Francaise – Allegro ma non troppo
Otto Maria Krämer – Symphonie Francaise – Cantabile
Otto Maria Krämer – Symphonie Francaise – Scherzando on “Macht hoch die Tür”
Otto Maria Krämer – Symphonie Francaise – Prière
Otto Maria Krämer – Symphonie Francaise – Final

Competition and Twitter

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This week I am attending the AGO National Convention in Boston. There will be several events that include organ improvisations during the week: a concert by Thierry Escaich, a Hymn Sing with Bruce Neswick and Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, a silent movie accompanied by Peter Edwin Krasinski, and several workshops and masterclasses. You can see the complete list that I compiled here. While I am always excited to see many familiar people and hear some fabulous playing, one of the highlights for me at the national convention is always the National Compeition in Organ Improvisation (NCOI).

After a preliminary selection round by recording, five candidates were selected to participate in the semi-final round. For this round, the candidates will have 30 minutes of preparation time with the themes and then will be required to play 1) a historically inspired improvisation based on a given hymn melody, chorale tune, or plainsong and 2) an improvisation on one of the given free themes, or on one given free theme and a secondary theme of the contestant’s choosing. Total performance time for these two improvisations is a maximum of 27 minutes. While that may seem like a long time to improvise, most candidates usually create a suite of variations on the hymn, chorale, or chant, so it becomes a little easier to fill the time requirement with short manageable movements. In fact, over the years, I’ve seen a few candidates have to end quickly in order not to play too long!

A maximum of three candidates will then be selected to continue on to the final round. The requirements for the final round are 1) a prelude, fantasia, or toccata and a fugue based on given theme(s), which may be sacred or secular and 2) a free improvisation based on a given musical theme or a given nonmusical theme (literary passage or artwork). Total performance time is again limited to a maximum of 27 minutes.

How many of these tasks would you feel comfortable doing now? Even if you aren’t able to hear the competition this week, the AGO has previous competition recordings available in the AGO Store. I found the recording from Nashville in 2012 listed in the Organ Music/Essays/Catalogs category. It also seems like you may be able to obtain other recordings from AGO National if you call and ask.

Now on Twitter

Because I received a request to report on the competition from someone who is not able to attend, I decided to set up a twitter account and live tweet the competition. I’ll eventually post a summary at organimprovisation.com, but if you’d like to follow along as it happens, I’ll do my best to make it informative and entertaining. With everyone following the World Cup, here’s my chance to be the announcer for the “American Cup” of organ improvisation. Follow me at @organimproviser to see if improvisation can be more exciting than soccer!

After a week of competitions, concerts, and workshops, I hope to have more practical advice for you next week.

Hoping you are having a fabulous summer of learning and fun!

Glenn

 
Recent additions to organimprovisation.com:

Organists:

Review:

Themes:

 
Newsletter Issue 9 – 2014 06 23
See the complete list of past newsletter issues here.
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Veni Sancte Spiritus

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VeniSancteSpiritus

Veni Sancte Spiritus is a sequence prescribed in the Roman Liturgy for the Masses of Pentecost and its octave, excluding the following Sunday. It is usually attributed to either the thirteenth-century Pope Innocent III or to the Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton. Veni Sancte Spiritus is one of only four medieval sequences which were preserved by the Council of Trent in the Missale Romanum published in 1570.

The chant is in the Dorian mode.

See a list of other popular chant themes here.


Video:
Pierre Cochereau – Choir of Notre Dame sings ‘Veni Sancte Spiritus’ – Paris
Clint Kraus – Improvisation on Veni Sancte Spiritus – St. James Cathedral, Seattle, WA

Jeffrey Brillhart – Breaking Free

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BreakingFreeBrillhart
Jeffrey Brillhart
Breaking Free: Finding a Personal Voice for Improvisation through 20th Century French Improvisation Techniques. Published by Wayne Leupold Editions.

One of the great difficulties I see in the teaching of improvisation is choosing where to begin and how to cover the wealth of material that a well-trained improviser needs to know. Whereas Gerre Hancock focuses almost entirely on form throughout his book Improvising: How to Master the Art, the bulk of the material in Breaking Free concerns harmonic language.

Jeffrey Brillhart attacks the challenge of what to cover and where to begin by narrowing the focus to “finding a personal language for organ improvisation through 20th century French Improvisation techniques,” the subtitle of the book. In the Introduction, Brillhart acknowledges that each student’s route to mastery is different:

There is no “one size fits all,” in learning to improvise or in teaching someone to improvise. What may work for one student may completely stymie another student.
…
Improvisation is a mystery. We do not fully understand what happens within the mind of the improviser while improvising. Improvisation is a search. It is a search for a personal musical language. It is a search for musical coherence. It is a search for personal self-expression. It is a search for beauty.

Breaking Free is a book filled with ideas for the student to explore. The first part (chapters 1-5) provides a philosophical grounding of improvisation and establishes the importance of the theme. Many example themes are given and chapter 4 is a catalog of development techniques. Any advice or examples provided are always accompanied by the encouragement of the student to find his or her own solution for how to treat the theme.

Part II (chapters 6-15) move into harmonic language and provides a framework not of scales, but intervals. Each chapter is devoted to a different interval (fifths, fourths, thirds, seconds, and so forth) and the harmonic colors that can be generated while using that specific interval to either harmonize or accompany the given theme. The pentatonic mode is also introduced and the student is urged to explore canons in this mode because of the harmonic simplicity the mode offers. Triads and seventh chords are also given their own chapters in this part, and while there may be references to key centers in the text, the student is encouraged to explore the textures without the restriction that a scale or specific mode would require.

Part III (chapters 16-20) begins with a look at Charles Tournemire. This chapter combines the techniques already covered with the structure and style of a specific composer, and provides a bridge into a harmonic language built upon modes. The next three chapters explain and explore the modes of Gregorian chant, a common theme source for much of French music. The final chapter of this part looks at the Bartok mode and serves as a bridge into Part IV which covers the more complex modes of Olivier Messiaen.

Only in Part V (chapters 25-35) does Brillhart finally begin to address large scale forms. Forms covered in this part include Passacaglia, Song From, Scherzo, Sonata Allegro, the structures of Louis Vierne and Pierre Cochereau, free improvisation and finally improvising on a literary text. The last two chapters (Part VI) provide examples of the language of Debussy and Ravel for the student to explore. Finally, for the student still searching at the end of this book there is a wonderful two-page bibliography of high quality resources for further exploration either of improvisation or other specific musical topics such as harmony or counterpoint.

Having spent the majority of my formal instruction in improvisation learning from French teachers, I am delighted that Jeff Brillhart has created this volume. While it may not be exactly what I experienced in France, he provides a codified and logical progression for something that I saw many French teachers address in a very haphazard way. By choosing to focus on a specific style, he actually helps the student develop many tools that can be applied in other areas. The greatest difficulty with this book may come from the lack of specific challenges for the student. Each chapter of Improvising: How to Master the Art by Gerre Hancock concludes with specific activities for the student to complete before moving on. While each chapter in Breaking Free has numerous examples and may offer ways for the student to apply the materials in the chapter, there is no task given where the student (or teacher) can clearly know if they have understood and can apply the material presented. If the student is creative, then this is probably not much of a problem, but for a beginning improviser who has trouble generating ideas, this may make it difficult to use this book without the aid of a teacher. Perhaps unintended, but a likely benefit of a student working through this book will not only be a breaking free of harmonic language, but also a strengthening of the creative muscle.

It takes a lot of varied skills to master the art of improvisation. Breaking Free by Jeff Brillhart is an excellent resource for adding tools to the improviser’s toolbox. Using this book, not only will the student break free harmonically, but he or she will also break free from the reliance on a teacher and discover his or her own creative potential. For anyone interested in improvising in a modern style (whether French or not), I highly recommend this book.

Frère Jacques

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FrereJacquesSm

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, daing, dong. Ding, daing, dong.

Frère Jacques is a French nursery melody. In English, it is sometimes called “Are You Sleeping?,” or “Brother John”. The tune is one of the most basic repeating canons along with the melody of “Three Blind Mice”. It bears a resemblance to the piece Toccate d’intavolatura, No.14, Capriccio Fra Jacopino sopra L’Aria Di Ruggiero composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi, which was first published around 1615. “Fra Jacopino” is one potential Italian translation for “Frère Jacques”. The exact origins of the melody are unknown.

See a list of other potential traditional song themes here.

Videos:
Anders Bondeman – Improvisation Frere Jacques – Stockholm City Hall Organ
Xaver Varnus – Variations on Frère Jacques – Dominican Church, Budapest
Andrea Kumpe, Max Pöllner & Christian Kohler – Six Handed Improvisation on Frère Jacques – Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus, Immenstadt

Piet van Egmond

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Egmond

Website:
http://www.pietvanegmond.nl/
Website of the Piet van Egmond Foundation. It includes biographical information as well as some mp3 files and information on other recordings that Piet van Egmond made.

Piet van Egmond (1912 – 1982) was a Dutch organist and conductor. According to tradition, Van Egmond gave his first organ recital in 1927 at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam with a program of works by Bach. In the same year he was admitted to the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he organ studied with Cornelis de Wolf. In 1933 Van Egmond was appointed organist at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. After World War II, he was organist successively at the Jeruzalemkerk (1952-1956), the Bachzaal Church and then the Thomaskerk in Amsterdam (1956-1967), the Gereformeerde Wilhelminakerk in Haarlem, and finally the Grote Kerk in Apeldoorn (1971-1977). He became well known for his organ improvisations on hymns and spiritual songs at the end of his organ concerts and during services.


Recordings at NCRV:

Videos:
Piet van Egmond – Improvisation of a “Rough Storm” – Wilhelminakerk, Haarlem
Piet van Egmond – Improvisation on Ps 138 – Grote kerk, Dordrecht

Noël Hazebroucq

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Hazebroucq

Noël Hazebroucq was born in Paris in 1979. After completing musical studies at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris-CNR, the CNR in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés he obtained diplomas from the École Nationale de Musique in Orléans and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. In 2004, he won the “Grand Prix d’improvisation” of the City of Paris and the second prize ex-aequo and the Public Prize at the international organ competition “Grand Prix de Chartres”. He teaches at the Conservatoire international de musique de Paris (8ème), and is organiste titulaire at the Temple des Batignolles in Paris.


Recordings:

impro-cd-cover-art
Hazebroucq: Impro


YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMrEVuKiWCkeqVhD1D3fxfw

Videos:
Noël Hazebroucq – Improvisation Masterclass – La Madeleine, Paris in French with English subtitles
Noël Hazebroucq – Improvisation Masterclass Part 1- Eglise Saint-Thibault du Pecq in French
Noël Hazebroucq – Improvisation Masterclass Part 2- Eglise Saint-Thibault du Pecq in French

Noël Hazebroucq – Free Improvisation on the text “Une vie de Saint Martin” – Eglise Saint Martin, Biarritz

An improvised symphony on themes from Maurice Duruflé and Veni Creator.
Noël Hazebroucq – Symphonie Improvisée 1: Allegro Sonate – La Madeleine, Paris
Noël Hazebroucq – Symphonie Improvisée 2: Scherzo – La Madeleine, Paris
Noël Hazebroucq – Symphonie Improvisée 3: Cantilène et toccata – La Madeleine, Paris