Martin Luther. Par SCHNEIDER ENJOTT. On the occasion of the quincentenary of Reformation Day in 2017, the composer Enjott Schneider thoroughly studied Martin Luther the individual and all his contradictions. The result is a brilliant, demanding organ symphony which is perfect for concerts on the subject of Reformation and Martin Luther. The composer describes the five movements of the symphony as follows: '1st movement: Wir glauben all an einen Gott with its quintuplet-like beginning is very Gregorian in style, outlining the range of Lutheran emotionalism between the Middle Ages and the modern era. The irrationality of 'faith' ultimately has priority over any thought and evidence. At the beginning of the movement, sounds of knocking on wood remind of the nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses to the doors of churches in Wittenberg. The chorale melody sometimes hides with an almost rough medieval saltarello, referring to Luther's robustness and vitality with which he knew to carry away even common people. 2nd movement: In 1530, the electoral prince of Saxony presented to Luther at Coburg Castle the golden signet ring with the 'Luther rose' which became the symbol of his theology of grace. A white heart with black cross is fixed on a five-petalled rose. To him, 'white' is the colour of angels and ghosts, 'black' stands for the pain of crucification: 'The just shall live by faith, but by faith in the Crucified.' But the fact that the rose and the heart are the dominating symbols shows how Catholic Marian piety remained an ingredient of Luther's spirituality throughout his life. In line with the dominant five-petal structure of the rose, this movement was composed, to a large extent, in accordance with the floating, lyrical rhythm in 5/8 time. 3rd movement: The omnipresence of death and dying – from the plague and war to the never-ending dangers of daily life – was an essential part of the world view of that time. Fears ensued that might heighten into the grotesque, e.g. in the pictures of Hieronymus Bosch. The 'Danse macabre' was a popular motif in those years. Luther's chorale 'Mitten wir im Leben sind / mit dem Tod umfangen' from 1524 ('Enchiridion' from Erfurt) is based on the Gregorian chant 'Media vita in morte sumus' created in France around 750 and, with its idea of transience, inspired a simplistic air. 4th movement: The famous confession delivered at the Diet of Worms in 1521, 'I stand here and can say no more. God help me. Amen', are not Luther's words but the version later used as text for a pamphlet. However, it represents quite plainly the straightforwardness and inevitability of his mission. Musically, it was made into a 'perpetuum mobile', i.e. a dogged, ostinato and never-ending musical air. 5th movement: The 'Mighty Fortress', on the other hand, is one of the great symbols of Martin Luther which, with its shining C major key, embodies the Protestant ideology and willful nature of the Reformation unlike any other song. Heinrich Heine called it the 'Marseille anthem of the Reformation', Friedrich Engels the 'Marseillaise of the Peasants' Wars'. This disputability is not thought through to the end but rather interrupted: With a jubilant 'birdcall version' of the melody, the finale shows a rather chamber-music-like side of the 'ideals of freedom of Christians'.'/ Répertoire / Orgue

Freie Orgelwerke - BuxWV 136-153, 158. Par BUXTEHUDE DIETERICH. This edition is the result of Harald Vogel?s many years of practice as an organist and musicologist. The music text is based on a reevaluation of 17 th - and 18 th -century manuscripts containing the free organ and keyboard works by Buxtehude. They originated during a transitional phase between the traditional letter tablature and the staff notation still in use today. Since many works have survived only in transcriptions for staff notation, the editor was confronted with a high error rate, which he carefully analyzes in the ?Einzelanmerkungen?. During the preparation of the edition, the editor always kept sight of the performance practice, but still, the image of the sources is never distorted (e. g. by superfluous rests, beaming not conforming to the sources and the unhistorical adjustment of time signatures) and stays very close to the compositional notation, the letter tablature. The flexible use of three staves and the differentiated distribution of the voices on the staves allow for an approximation in reading conventions of historical notation with its resulting information about hand division. Grouping the free organ repertoire into works with obbligato pedal and works for manuals, this edition is organized in two volumes. The first subvolume (I/1, EB 9304) contains the Preface and the Preludes, whereas the second subvolume (I/2, EB 9305) contains Toccatas, Ostinato works, alternative versions and a comprehensive Critical Commentary (in German only). Volume II (EB 9306) contains Buxtehude?s free organ and keyboard works (manualiter) with the corresponding texts (Preface and Critical Commentary). Until 1971, Harald Vogel worked on a dissertation (with Georg von Dadelsen, Hamburg) on ?Die Fuge um Bach?. Besides the description of the ?inclusion? of triple measures into the C notation and the irregularities of the ?voice mutation? in the polyphonic structures, this also included a discussion about the justification of the ?inner textual criticism?. With the inner textual criticism, deviations in parallel passages are unified. The North German fugue style, reaching a peak in Buxtehude?s work, is characterized by a constant diversity of details in subject and polyphonic progressions. One of the ?indicators of the fantastic style? is the dissolution of the polyphonic structures at the ends of the fugues, evident in Buxtehude?s work. In this edition, a musical text is presented that avoids the uniformity of detail not conforming to the sources. However, there are many examples of transcription and cursory errors, which are analyzed in a methodical systematic manner. About the editor: As an organist, professor, organ expert, and scholar, Harald Vogel has rendered outstanding services to the interpretation of early music and especially to historical performance practice concerning the organ for decades. He has received numerous awards, including an ECHO Klassik as Instrumentalist of the Year (2012), honorary doctorates from Luleå University of Technology (Sweden, 2008) and Oberlin College (USA, 2014), as well as the Buxtehude Prize of the City of Lübeck (2018). Harald Vogel is the author and editor of numerous scholarly publications and editions. Through his lifelong performance practice, he can look back on an extensive discography, including the complete recording of Buxtehude?s organ works, which he recorded in various locations with historical organ instruments of the North German organ building tradition in Scandinavia, North Germany and the Netherlands. / Date parution : 2022-10-12/ Recueil / Orgue