Collections of character pieces for orgn (RWA Vol. I/5–7)

Alexander Becker, Stefan König, Christopher Grafschmidt, Stefanie Steiner-Grage

1.

The works presented in Vols. I/5–7 are, except for the works without opus numbers, collections of character pieces, not composed as cycles, but nevertheless arranged systematically. They mainly combine Reger’s compositions of medium difficulty, written both as a response to his large-scale works, but also with an eye to the market for printed music.

Collections of character pieces, such as Reger published in large numbers for piano in particular, are also found throughout his entire output of organ works (see Chronology of the organ works). The compilation of the early Three Pieces op. 7 (1892), composed during Reger’s Wiesbaden period, came about rather by coincidence: the first piece, Prelude and Fugue, was written at the instigation of the London publisher Augener for the series Cecilia, but was initially put aside there; Reger composed two further movements (Fantasia and Fugue) of his own accord, and combined all three under the opus number 7. After his move to Weiden, the organ became central in Reger’s compositional activities. Firstly, in the years 1898/99 he composed important organ works, establishing his name amongst concert organists with these (see RWA Vols. I/1 to I/3). Between 1900 and 1904 in particular, Reger increasingly composed works with which he also hoped to reach ambitious amateur musicians and students.1 The Six Trios op. 47, intended as a counterpart to the Fantasia and Fugue on B-A-C-H op. 46, were conceived from the outset as a collection. The same applies to opp. 59, 63, 65, 69, 56, 80 and 85 which followed in quick succession. At the request of the publisher C.F. Peters, Reger retained the arrangement of twelve pieces in two volumes he had established with op. 59 with opp. 65 and 80 (for op. 65 Reger initially composed 15 pieces, with the three extra pieces forming the basis for op. 80). When, in spring 1913, Reger once again composed a large-scale organ work (Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E minor op. 127) following a long pause, he told the publisher Bote & Bock that, in addition to this, he was writing small easy (letter dated 6 May 1913) organ pieces (op. 129). As with opp. 46 and 47, and with certain qualifications also opp. 60 and 63 (see Reception), Reger in a sense conceived two companion pieces at the same time: one is substantial, and the other more modest in its demands. With the Organ Pieces op. 145, the extent only became clear over time, as the publisher H. Oppenheimer requested more pieces each time some were published.

Publishing requirements played an important role on the whole in the creation of the collections of smaller pieces. For example, in 1901, the publisher C.F. Peters, who had possibly become aware of this aspect of Reger’s output through the recently-published Six Trios op. 47, approached him with a specific request for organ pieces. With the composition of op. 63, Reger responded to a request from the publisher F.E.C. Leuckart who, alongside the II. Sonata in D minor op. 60, wanted to have shorter pieces à la op 59 (Reger’s letter dated 4 and 12 December 1901 to Adalbert Lindner) amongst their offerings. At the suggestion of Reger to C.F. Peters with regard to a further organ work (op. 65) this was accepted on the condition that it would be “entirely in the style of your op. 59” 2. The Organ Pieces op. 129 in turn originated expressly in response to a contractual obligation.3

In all the organ collections between opp. 59 and 129, Reger formed smaller units of movements. And so, apart from opp. 56 and 85, there are twelve combinations alone of prelude or toccata with a fugue (or a fugetta in op. 80). In op. 63 the Introduction and Passacaglia followed on, attacca, a combination Reger had already chosen for WoO IV/6; the sequence of Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis and Benedictus in op. 59 (nos. 7–9) became familiar as the Little Organ Mass. Movements from the canon of Catholic church music are found not only in this work (a Te Deum is also included), but also in opp. 63 and 80 (each contains an Ave Maria); in contrast to this, in op. 47 Reger chose alongside the obligatory Fugue (and with the exception of a unique Siciliano) exclusively types of movement which he had already used in his piano collections. In op. 145 in turn, based on the history of its composition and internal content, there are several connections4 which do not amount to a formal coherence.

For concert purposes, Reger’s organ pieces, although indeed mainly published in complete collections with opus numbers, provide a wide-ranging repertoire of individual pieces, often included by performers between the main works on programs. In addition, for performances the previously-mentioned combinations of pieces are suitable as smaller, sometimes quite important groups of pieces. Frequently the combination of Kyrie eleison and Benedictus (nos. 7 and 9) from the Twelve Pieces op. 59 and the Introduction and Passacaglia (nos. 5 and 6) from the Monologe op. 63 were found on programs, and as such belonged to the core repertoire of concert organists such as Karl Straube, Hermann Dettmer and Paul Gerhardt (see Performances). A selection of organ pieces from different collections “in an informal sequence” 5 was also frequently found in programs of the Reger period.


1
Twelve Pieces op. 59, Monologe op. 63, Twelve Pieces op. 65, Ten Pieces op. 69, Twelve Pieces op. 80; these are complemented by the Five Easy Preludes and Fugues op. 56 and Four Preludes and Fugues op. 85. (The Suite in G minor op. 92 of 1905/06 differs from the collections named simply by its smaller number of movements.) – See also Chorale preludes for periodicals 1899–1901.
2
Henri Hinrichsen’s letter dated 4 January 1902 to Reger, excerpts in Peters-Briefe, p. 60.
3
Because of the acquisition of the publisher Lauterbach & Kuhn by Bote & Bock at the end of 1908, Reger was now required to provide the Berlin publisher with a volume of Schlichte Weisen or similar easy instrumental performance works each year (see Lauterbach & Kuhn-Briefe 2, p. 320). He also composed organ pieces in this fashion, which he called “gentle Henries” (letter dated 25 March 1914 to Karl Straube, in Straube-Briefe, p. 234).
4
So numbers 1, 2, and 7 (Trauerode, Dankpsalm and Siegesfeier) should be considered against the background of wartime conditions, whereas nos. 3–6 (Weihnachten, Passion, Ostern and Pfingsten) related to the church year.
5
Carl Robert Blum in Die Musik 13 Jg. (1913), No. 3 (1st November issue), p. 185. In this, Blum reviewed an organ recital given by Alfred Sittard in Berlin, in which the program included a total of five pieces from opp. 80, 59 and 69.
About this Blogpost

Authors:
Alexander Becker, Stefan König, Christopher Grafschmidt, Stefanie Steiner-Grage

Translations:
Elizabeth Robinson (en)

Date:
31st January 2014

Tags:
Module IVol. I/5

Read more in RWA Online…

Citation

Alexander Becker, Stefan König, Christopher Grafschmidt, Stefanie Steiner-Grage: Collections of character pieces for orgn (RWA Vol. I/5–7), in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/rwa_post_00052, version 3.1.0-rc3, 20th December 2024.

Information

Links and references to texts and object entries of the RWA encyclopaedia are currently not all active. These will be successively activated.