Music Notes

The prelude for Easter 7 is the “Adagio in E Major” of Frank Bridge (1879-1941).  The organ work is the second of the “Three Pieces for Organ” published in 1906. It is Bridge’s most popular organ work, and an organ work performed quite often.  The first section appears to show the composer’s affinity with a writing for the strings of the pipe organ.  It is easy to image this passage played by a string quartet.  The music builds continually before reaching a great climax.  The work begins to quiet down over a long dominant pedal, before the opening section returns.  This organ work is often used in England as an “examination piece” testing the organist’s ability to manage the many changes in registration.  Frank Bridge privately taught Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), a leading British composer in the twentieth century.

 

The postlude “Grand Choeur in G Major” of Théodore-César Salomé (1834-1896) was a French organist and composer.  Théodore was born in Paris, and completed all of his musical studies at the Conservatoire de Paris under the tutelage of François Benoist for organ and François Bazin for harmony and accompaniment. Salomé played for Masses and religious services with great talent and knowledge at Sainte-Trinité.  The “Grand Choeur in G Major” is one of Salome’s better known organ works. The outer sections of the organ work take the form of a grandiose march, requiring suitable space and breadth.  The middle section consists of a humble fugue.