SKU: MN.12-128

UPC: 688670121289.

The three movements that make up Nocturnes, Book I are programmatic pieces that take as their points of departure a painting, the rhythms of a great city, and a poem. 1. The Starry Night is a written down improvisation based on Vincent van Goghs famous picture of the same name. The tonal material is a quite literal transformation of the visual elements of the painting: the melismatic cadenzas mirror van Goghs swirling starlight, and the powerful chords were suggested by the sinister trees that shoot upward to puncture the skys patterns. 2. Stovers Rag is a product of the ragtime revival of the early 1970s, when many composers tried their hand at writing concert rags. The New York night, which was not without its sinister element in those days, is expressed in an updating of the classic ragtime format. The piece looks backward as well, with the old French Baroque basse de trompette making an appearance in the trio section. 3. The Song of Shadows taps the nostalgic mood typical of the poetry of Walter de la Mare. The poem of the same name pictures a lone musician on a winter night, an dog sleeping before a sinking fire, and, at the end, the spirits that are summoned by music. The opening melody, played on an 8 flute with tremulant, suggests the blues-tinged sound of an alto saxophone, and throughout the movement the organs capacity for sustained tone is used to suggest and atmosphere of dreamy timelessness. The pieces were written in 1971 and first performed on July 2, 1972 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, with the composer at the console.

SKU: HL.48180908

UPC: 888680984274. 9.0x12.0x0.15 inches.

This first volume of Twelve Pieces by Gaston Litaize is a set of six pieces for organ. With a difficulty that would fit the skills of upper intermediate players, these pieces require the use of pedals. This first tome includes: 1. Prelude, dedicated to Lauret Bolli, his friend 2. Double Fugue 3. Lied, dedicated to Guy Lambert 4. Intermezzo Pastoral, dedicated to Miss Line Zilgien 5. Final, dedicated to his professor Marcel Dupre 6. Lamento, dedicated to his friend Maurice Dalphin. And the second tome consists of: 7. Scherzo 8. Toccata sur le veni creator 9. Priere 10. Jeux de rythmes 11. Interlude 12. Variations sur un Noel angevin. This piece is quite famous among Gaston Litaize's compositions. Gaston Litaize (1909-1991) was a French organist and composer, blind since his youth. Considered as one of the organ masters of his times, he toured and worked on many recordings. He was also a good professor, and composed many pieces for solo organ and for organ with other instruments.

SKU: CA.2770505

ISBN 9790007166595. Text language: Latin.

Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live is one of the central biblical texts dealing with the transitoriness of human existence. Leopold Hofmann, Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna from 1772 to 1793, where W. A. Mozart was his church music assistant, also set this strongly expressive text. Hofmann's setting, in C minor, offers an austere harmony, characterized by suspensions in a homophonic, through-composed four-part vocal setting (soloists or SATB choir), reinforced only by two trombones and organ continuo. Four concise instrumental transitional passages between the individual verses relieve the pathos laden Viennese church style of this composition. With its tragic air, in some passages it closely resembles Mozart's Requiem K. 626. For this first edition, the two trombone parts are available both in the original clef and in alto clef. The figured bass has been realized so that the piece can also be performed without trombones, with only organ accompaniment. For a performance this piece could easily be combined with the Salve Regina by Pietro Cassati (Carus 27.703) from the Vienna series. Score available separately - see item CA.2770500.

SKU: LO.70-2433S

ISBN 9780787778217.

This volume’s title is also the name of the centerpiece triptych in this collection of thrilling works by Angela Kraft Cross. The other pieces include a fantasy inspired by archangels, a Christmas fantasy on “Adeste fideles,” an elegiac “fanfare,” and a piece inspired by the vision of healing waters. Kraft Cross’s pieces are becoming frequent recital selections, and the ones in this volume likewise offer possibilities for concerts or as special service voluntaries.

SKU: CA.5600300

ISBN 9790007188047.

The organ is the instrument on which the young Giacomo Puccini began his career as a musician. Through the rediscovery of a considerable number of hand-written pieces, which he composed after 1870 as part of his duties as organist in the churches of Lucca, several primary sources are now available. These give an insight into the beginnings of his musical activities which have only been known about from anecdotes from his first biographers until now. Puccini's organ repertoire includes works which were typical for liturgical organ music at that time: sonatas for the main sections of the mass, versets which were substituted for Gregorian chant, marches, which were played after the mass (exceptionally even waltzes), and even a pastorale for Christmas time. This music was written with the sound of instruments made in Tuscany in mind. These have just one manual, a 8 foot Principale register and a small pedalboard always coupled to the manual. In addition there were several solo stops divided into bass and soprano.Puccini contributed with originality to the renewal of Italian organ practice, which began in his day to discard its operatic style in favor of a style more suited to the liturgy.

SKU: BT.EMBZ14775

Ern Dohnányi (1877 - 1960) composed his C minor fantasia in 1892, at the age of fifteen.This work, which is appearing in print now for the first time, is a real curiosity: apart from a few polyphonic stylistic exercises written while he was at the music academy, this is Dohnányi's only piece for organ. The composer later recalled his first acquaintance with that instrument thus: 'My experience with the organ actually dates back to when I was a third-year grammar school student, for beginning with that year I served as organist for the Sunday worship services in the grammar school's church. These were the first wages I ever earned through music.' The Fantasie wasprepared for publication on the basis of the composer's manuscript by the well-known Dohmányi researcher Deborah Kiszely.

Ern Dohnányi (1877 - 1960) composed his C minor fantasia in 1892, at the age of fifteen. This work, now appearing in print for the first time, is a real curiosity: apart from a few polyphonic stylistic exercises written whilehe was at the music academy, this is Dohnányi's only piece for organ. The composer later recalled his first acquaintance with that instrument thus: 'My experience with the organ actually dates back to when I was a third-year grammarschool student, for beginning with that year I served as organist for the Sunday worship services in the grammar school's church. These were the first wages I ever earned through music.' The Fantasie was prepared forpublication on the basis of the composer's manuscript by the well-known Dohmányi researcher Deborah Kiszely.

Ern Dohnányi (1877-1960) komponierte die Fantasie in c-Moll 1892 im Alter von fünfzehn Jahren. Das Werk, welches nun erstmalig in Druck erscheint, ist ein echtes Kuriosum: Abgesehen von ein paar wenigen polyphonen Stilübungen aus der Musikakademie ist es das einzige Orgelwerk des Komponisten. Dieser erinnerte sich später folgendermaßen an das Kennenlernen des Instruments: Meine erste Begegnung mit dem Orgel reicht bis zur dritten Klasse im Gymnasium zurück. Ab dieser Klasse nahm ich sonntags die Funktion des Kantors in der Kirche der Schule ein. Das war mein erstes Geld, was ich mit Musik verdiente. Die Fantasie wurde von der bekannten Dohnányi-Forscherin Deborah Kiszelynach dem Originalmanuskript herausgegeben.

SKU: HL.14008939

ISBN 9780853609551. 8.25x11.75x0.178 inches.

The Blue Rose Variations is one of several works in which the composer has drawn on ragtime and blues. The organ work is based on two transformations of the popular piano piece To A Wild Rose (Woodland Sketches, Op.51 No.1) by the American composer, Edward MacDowell (1860-1908). During the course of the Variations, To A Wild Rose appears as a blues and also as a classical rag, often as both together. The sections are Theme: a quiet blues; Variation I: a pedal solo in varied metres based on the blues in fast tempo; Variation II: the first appearance of the rag as a background to the blues as a 2' pedal solo; Variation III: a version of Variation I now involving manuals too; Variation IV: another blues solo against the rag; Variation V: another version of Variation I with the pedal solo almost entirely transferred to the manuals; Variation VI: a final confrontation between the blues and the rag, now much decorated. First performed in New York in April 1986. Duration c.15 mins.

SKU: HL.14011002

UPC: 884088433741. 8.5x11.0x0.079 inches. C. H. Trevor - Author.

The B.A.C.H. motif has been known and used for centuries, but enjoyed a great revival in the late 19th century as composers paid homage to the composer J.S. Bach. It derives from the German nomenclature, and is expressed in standard notation as Bb-A-C-B.

The Fantasia And Fugue On B.A.C.H. is one of the most famous Organ works of Franz Liszt (1811-1886). The piece was intended for the inauguration of the famous Ladegast Organ at Merseburg Cathedral, but sadly, it wasn't finished in time. Liszt then revised the work in 1870 and produced the version that survives today. A well-loved piece, no organist's library iscomplete without it.

SKU: HL.49017948

ISBN 9790001147439. UPC: 884088585631. 9.0x12.0x0.314 inches.

Hermann Schroeder's abundant oeuvre in the field of chorale-bound organ music is much less known among organists than his free - especially the concertante - organ works, although Hermann Schroeder as an organist felt particularly bound to liturgy and liturgical singing. And according to him, any liturgical organ music should always bear a direct relation to singing. The purpose of the present anthology is to provide the player a representative selection of Schroeder's chorale arrangements. Most of these chorales are relatively short and of medium difficulty at most. The chorale melody can be heard well most of the time so that the pieces are ideal for being used in church services. In the alphabetical index, the beginnings of song titles are accompanied by the corresponding number from Gotteslob (GL) or the Protestant Hymnal for better orientation.