CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
GRADUATE RECITAL IN ORGAN
An abstract submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Music in
Organ Performance
by
Imre V. Szilas
May 1990
The abstract of Imre V. Szilas is approved:
Frank
California State University, Northridge
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Balint Bakfark (1507-1575):
Fantasia.
Bakfark was an Hungarian composer and lutenist during the
Renaissance.
A favorite musician of the European courts, he
astonished his contemporaries with his lute playing and his
compositions.
The Fantasia with which I start the program
employs imitative counterpoint and is written in the
Aeolian mode.
All of the phrases come to a close through an
ornamented cadence which is a formula which Bakfark typically
employed:
Bakfark's name is not widely known outside Hungary,
although he has written some of the most beautiful and
highest quality music of the Renaissance.
I hope that by
performing the Fantasia, a few more people will hear his
music and learn of his name.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):
Prelude & Fugue in A
Minor, BWV 543.
The great Prelude & Fugue in A Minor long has been a favorite
piece for organists and listeners alike.
Bach must have had
the violin in mind when he wrote the piece, because the long
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opening unaccompanied passages are typical of virtuoso
baroque violin playing.
The prelude is really a fantasy
employing rapid passages in the hand and in the pedal.
The
fugue, with its long and beautiful subject, reminds us of
Bach's harpsichord fugue in the same key.
At the end, the
fugue will take on the spirit of the fantasy again and will
close with demanding pedal passages and highly ornamented
and dissonant passages in the hands.
Olivier Messiaen (b. 1902):
Dieu parmi nous
Olivier Messiaen is one of the most significant and
influential composers of the twentieth century.
His
"La Nativite du Seigneur" of 1932 is a suite of nine
meditations which depict various personages and several
significant ramifications of the nativity of Christ.
The
piece I am playing depicts the word of God which Messiaen
finds in the Gospels of Saint John and Saint Luke:
"The
word became flesh and full of grace and truth and lived among
us.
My soul praises the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God
my Saviour."
Many unusual and perhaps exotic timbres and
colors are used in the registration.
This often poses severe
problems for players whose instruments are lacking the
required stops.
Nevertheless, Messiaen's music is so
important that an acceptable approximation of his registration requirements is worth seeking.
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Cesar Franck (1822-1890):
Grande Piece Symphonique, op. 17.
Franck's Grande Piece Symphonique occupies an important place
in the French symphonic tradition.
This work virtually
in-
augurated the genre of the organ symphony, and it displays
the powers of Franck as an organist and as a composer.
Some
people consider this work to be a sketch for the orchestral
Symphony in D, so it is not surprising to find Franck
inserting a scherzo-like allegro as the middle section of
his slow movement.
The work, in fact is a one movement
work although it can be broken down into at least three
lengthy sections.
The shadow of Franck's spiritual mentor
Beethoven hangs over the whole piece.
This is most obvious
in the introduction to the Finale in which Franck reintroduces material from the previous movements before settling on
the first movement's first subject recast in the major mode.
Many compositional parallels between this point in Franck's
Grand Piece Symphonique and the introduction to the fourth
movement of Beethoven's Symphony in D can be found.
Summary
These four compositions on this program demonstrate some of
the vast variety and national traditions present in the art
of organ composition.
Appropriate performance practice
problems must be addressed in the attempt to faithfully and
realistically
interpret this music for modern audiences on
a German-type organ of moderate resources.
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