A description of the chapters in Simon's forthcoming book exploring organ music
from Bach to Messiaen


Part I Bach before 1717

1 Er ist der einzige Krebs im Bache: Johann Ludwig Krebs role in the transmission of important manuscripts of the music of J.S.Bach

Copying (rather than publishing) was an important method of preserving and transmitting music in northern Germany. Much of Bach's Weimar organ music has only been preserved in copies made by J. G. Walther and Tobias Krebs, whilst Tobias' son later became Bach's favourite pupil at the Thomasschule in Leipzig. Here is the handwriting of the 15 year old J. S. Bach: he himself was later to encourage his pupils to copy important works.



2 I thought this art were dead, though I see that in you it still lives: A Sarabande for the Hanseatic tradition transmitted in both the Walther-Krebs Manuscript and the Mempell-Preller Collection

Bach's hauntingly beautiful setting of An Wasserflüssen Babylon exists in three different versions. In this chapter we trace the genesis of the piece and examine the five part setting which is copied here in the hand of J. G. Walther:




3 Ein kühnerer Schwung, ein tieferes Athmen: The Fuga alla giga in G major: is it really da J.S. Bach?

All organists are fascinated by the Gigue Fugue. The shape of this subject may be traced at least as far back as Froberger and Roberday and also occurs in music by Buxtehude, Reincken and Bruhns. Is the work by J. S. Bach, and does it belong in the context of other music? Perhaps the piece has links with Bach's Prelude and Fugue BWV 550 and even the chorale An Wasserflüssen Babylon: The Hanseatic tradition of the Stylus Fantasticus may here be unified with the vesper tradition of weaving a Chorale Fantasia improvisation around an expected chorale: the shape of this fugue subject bears a fascinating relationship to the chorale An Wasserflüssen Babylon:

4 Incomparable Things: Weimar, Weißenfels and Italienische Art in the years 1713- 1714; The Toccata and Fugue in F BWV 540 as a synthesis of styles and its transmission and performance history in the eighteenth century

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in F major has features which link it to three different schools: those of Pacelbel, Buxtehude and Vivaldi. Was the work written for the newly rebuilt organ in the chapel at Weimar, and was it again performed in Weissenfels and eventually Dresden?
 


Part II Bach at Leipzig

5 No one will surpass him in it, and few will be able to imitate him: J.S. Bach’s three settings of Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr in the third part of the Clavierübung


Did Bach intend his first publication for the organ to be a keyboard equivalent to the B minor Mass? Here is the engraving by Balthasar Schmidt of Nuremberg of Bach's setting of Allein Gott BWV 675:

6 A feat of architecture hitherto very rare and much admired! The Canonic Variations Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her BWV 769 per canones à 2 claviers et pédale
These variations exist in two different versions: the late autograph manuscript (top) and the copper-plate engraving (bottom). Which of these represents Bach's final thoughts on the piece?




Part III French organ music in the liturgy

7 La grandeur des Mystères: the trajectory of tradition from Titelouze, Nivers and de Grigny to Maurice Duruflé

Here we trace the tradition of liturgical settings of the hymn Veni Creator. New urtext editions of settings by Titelouze and Nivers are included in this chapter:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Here is the opening of Simon's new edition of Titelouze's Veni Creator:

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 



Part IV The organ music of Olivier Messiaen

8 ...selecting the best from every language, fragmenting and recombining the fragments into a new and perfect structure: Messiaen's Musical Language from Incarnation to Resurrection

Just as visual images of the resurrection (such as this by the Siennese Andrea di Bartolo) interact in a tradition of representation, does Messiaen's musical imagery of the resurrection use musical gestures in the same way?

9 Harmony of Parts and Charm of Colour ~ Olivier Messiaen as performer and musical preacher: timbre, technique and theology in Les Corps Glorieux

The Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, pictured here by Zurbaran, gave Messiaen a rich source of inspiration

10 Always forgotten, always found again, and always repeated: filiation and intertextuality in Messiaen's post-war organ music

Thomas Pynchon's description of Bordando el manto terrestre by Remedio Vario has deep resonances with the all-embracing musical languages of Messiaen.