Audio Playlist. Scroll to see Program PDF

Faculty Recital:

2007-09-27 -- Brett Wolgast, organ

Access to audio and video playlists restricted to current faculty, staff, and students.

If you have questions, please contact the Rita Benton Music Library at [email protected].

Audio Playlist

SCHOOL

g/

MUSIC

Thursday

September 27, 2007

/

8:00p.m.

/

/

//

Brett Wolgast,

organ

•

CLAPP

RECITAL

HALL

L

UN;~~!!

OF

Facul~eeaat'

Brett Wolgast, organ

Sept. 27, 2007, 8:00 p.m. CLAPP RECITAL HALL

PROGRAM

Fantasy on "Hallelujah! Gott zu loben," op. 52, No. 3

Chorale Fantasy on "Nunfreuteuch, lieben Christengmein"

BuxWV210

Passacaglia, BWV 582

Fantasy Pieces, op. 55, No. 4 Naiades Toccata, op. 9

BIOGRAPHY

Max REGER

Johann Sebastian

(1685-1750)

Louis VIERNE

(1870-1937)

Jean GUILLOU

(b. 1930)

BRETT WOLGAST is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Organ and Church M:usic at The University of Iowa in

Iowa City. He is also Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music and College Organist at Coe College in Cedar Rapids

where he teaches organ, piano, and music theory-related courses. In adclition, he is Cantor at First Lutheran

Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his responsibilities include serving as organist, accompanist, and clirector

of instrumental ensembles.

Brett Wolgast received his Bachelor of Music degree and Performance Certificate in Piano and Organ from

Kan-sas State University graduating magna cum !aude. He completed a Master of Arts degree in Piano Performance,

a Master of Fine Arts degree in Organ Performance, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ

Perfor-mance and Pedagogy from The University of Iowa. His primary teachers include: Mary Ellen Sutton, Catharine Crozier, Delbert Disselhorst, and Delores Bruch-organ; and Robert Edwards and John Simms-piano.

Wolgast achieved nation-wide recognition by winning two national competitions: the American Guild of Organ-ists Open Competition in Organ Playing, and the Ft. Wayne, Ind. National Organ Competition. He has

per-formed throughout the United States as a guest recitalist for AGO chapters and conventions as well as church and

civic concert series. He is also active in the field of church music having served as organist/ choir

director/wor-ship coorclinator for several churches in the Midwest as well as a clinician for sacred music workshops and classes.

Wolgast is a member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians having served on regional and national

PROGRAM NOTES

"I can compose music more difficult than you can play!" "I can play anytl1ing you can write!"

Whetlier fact or fiction, most organists would agree that at least a grain of truth lies behind tl,e legendary com-petition between composer Ma..'C Reger and organ virtuoso Karl Straube.

Reger received his musical training from the famous pedagogue and musician, Hugo Reimann. Altl1ough hjs life was relatively short and often plagued by illness, his contributions to many facets of music are considerable. In adrution to compositions in nearly all music genres except opera, Reger acl,jeved fame as a pianjst, orga1,jsr, and conductor, and in 1907, became tl,e Music Director and Professor of Composition at the Leipzig Consen-atory. While today his overall significance in music history may be secondary, many feel Reger to be one of tl1e most significant composers for tl1e organ after Johann Sebastian Bach.

Reger's organ works are many and varied, from short free pieces and chorale preludes to works of almost sym-phonic proportions. Although raised in the Catliolic fajtl1, tl1e majority of his works for the instrument take inspiration from the Protestant chorale. Halleh!Jah! Gott Z!' loben, op. 52, No. 3, is one such piece based on the 191

1,

century chorale tune by JG. Bassler and a text paraphrase of Psalm 146 by Matl1ias Jorissen.

Like the hymn tune and text, tlie overall affect is one of tremendous jubilation and praise. The Fanta-!)1 opens with a dramatic introduction complete witli expansive chords, sudden shifts of texture, tl,jrd and parallel harmo1,jc relations, and unresolved russonances. Reger then proceeds with six stanzas of the chorale in close succession.

In each variation the hymn tune is presented unadorned, yet is transformed and heard anew by a variety of ac-companiment figures, timbres, and textures, all reflecting the mood and sentiment of the text. The tender setting of stanza six, conclurung with a half cadence, leads to a fugue of massive proportions and complexity. Following a complete fugue exposition and development of the subject through a variety of keys and episodes, tl1e work reaches its ultimate climax with the introduction of the final stanza of the chorale amidst an already complex contrapuntal fabric. Reger offers a dramatic conclusion to tl,js monumental work by restating the first phrase of the chorale tune in stretto accompanied by tlie fugue subject.

2007 marks the 300'11 _{anniversary of the death of the great North German composer and organist, Dietrich} Buxtehude. For the majority of [,js career, Buxtehude held the prestigious post of organist and music rurector of St. Mary's Church in Uibeck. Though not widely.traveled, his reputation and music were far-reaching, e\·en enticing a young JS. Bach to travel hundreds of miles to learn from the great master.

The Chorale Fanta!), on Nun frettt ettch, lieben Chrfrten gmein is monumental in every way. It is Buxtehude's grandest chorale-based work and one of the largest in tl1e repertoire, combining the fantasy-style of composition with a

canttts ftrmtts. Lutl1er's first Reformation hymn forms the basis for the work, a hymn that sets forth a key tenet of

the Lutheran faith, namely salvation through faith in tl1e life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Buxtehude ruvides the seven phrases of the chorale over ten sections, each delineated by a change of texture, a change of figuration and motivic development, and occasionally a change of meter. Simultaneously, he paints an aural por-trait of the text, from the jubilant fanfare and fugal treatment of the opening phrases to the chromatic lament depicting the costly price for our salvation. Stanza one of Luther's text is given below.

Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, Witl1 exaltation springing, And, with united heart and voice

And holy rapture singing, Proclaim the wonders God has done, How his right arm the vict'ry won,

What price our ransom cost him! (Program notes cont. 011 back)

T11e Passacaglia is among Bach's most recognizable and famous compositions for organ. As with many of hjs

\,·arks, the Passacaglia offers a compendium of Baroque keyboard figurations through a set of 21 continuous

,·ariations based on an eight-measure theme. While similar figurations can be found in the works of Bach's con

-temporaries and predecessors, none are so skillfully developed and joined together to provide a unified whole.

Four measures of the passacaglia theme are borrowed from Raison's verset on Christe eleison from his First Or-.~rmho{lk. Bach adds an additional four measures to Raison's theme allowing for a more complete figurative and harmonic development. The intensity and dissonance level builds with each subsequent variation. Just when one thinks the ultimate climax has been reached in the double pedal-point 20th variation, the work transforms into

the culminating variation, a complete fugue utilizing the first four measures of the passacaglia theme as a subject

to which Bach adds two countersubjects.

Louis Vierne was orgarust for 37 years at Paris's famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Although born nearly blind,

his aptitude for music was recognized at an early age. He received instruction on the piano and organ as well as the ,·iolin. He e,'entually earned his way to the Paris Conservatoire where he studied with the famous orgarust, composer, and teacher Cesar Franck. Vierne suffered several losses in his life, the deaths of family members

during\'('\',\] including his son, and two failed attempts to improve his sight. In 1937, while performing a joint organ concert at Notre Dame with his prized student, Maurice DuruAe, Vierne suffered a massive stroke and was pronounced dead at the console.

\'icrne's organ works include incidental pieces, six Organ 5_ympho11ies, 24 Pieces in a Free Sryle, and 24 Fanta.ry Pieces.

Sai"ades belongs to the fourth book of Fantasy Pieces, composed in 1927. Akin to the 19th-century character

piece, Vierne portrays the frolicking, graceful play of U:7ater N_ymphs through continuous ascending/ descending scales puncrnated with colorful harmonies and a quiet, charming melody.

J

Paris Consen'atoire studying with Marcel Dupre, Maurice DuruAe, and Olivier Messiaen. In addition to an

im-pressiYe concert career, Guillou has served as organist at St. Eustache in Paris since 1963.

His "·arks for organ are numerous, including solo pieces, works for organ and instruments, as welJ as

transcrip-tions of chamber and sympbonjc works by 18th and 19th century composers. Most of Guillou's organ

compo-sitions capitalize on his own virtuosic technique. Toccata, composed in 1962, follows a long tradition of French organ toccatas established by the symphonic organ school in the early 20th century. Unlike those earlier ''perpetual motion" models, Guillou's Toccata starts tentatively, presenting thematic cells that are progressively enlarged and developed, often by the use of canon. With ever-increasing harmonic and thematic tension, the work finally dissolves into a true tour-de-force toccata. Guillou's sudden shifts of texture and density, syncopation and cross rhythms, and dramatic use of silence make this toccata one

of the most unique and exciting examples in the repertoire.

Brett Wolgast

THE UNIVER.511Y

OFlOWA