Music for Last Sunday after Epiphany

As our choir prepares to sing Solemn Evensong and Benediction this afternoon at 4 pm, this Solemn Mass features a seldom-heard setting of the propers for tenor and organ by Josef Rheinberger. Rheinberger lived and worked in Munich as conductor of the court chapel and professor of composition and organ. He is remembered among organists for his collection of no fewer than 20 sonatas for organ, which, while written in a conservative style with regard to form and technique, embody the nuanced harmonic ideals of the time.

Today’s prelude comes not from one of Rheinberger’s sonatas, but from a collection of twelve short “monologues” for organ, likely designed as pedagogical studies for students to learn various techniques relating to registration, phrasing, and employment of the hands and feet.

One of these monologues may have been assigned as homework for the young American composer, Horatio Parker (composer of today’s postlude), who studied with Rheinberger in the 1880s before sailing home to lead the department of composition at Yale University. A subject of my academic research, Parker’s music is wonderfully varied yet grounded in the compositional technique he would have encountered at German conservatory. The writing achieves an equilibrium between harmonic and motivic exploration and fluent development of form and melodies; in addition, it is beautifully suited to an organ such as our Casavant op. 1605.

Abraham Ross

 

Solemn Mass takes place at St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver at 10:30 am every Sunday.