Organ Music for My First Sunday

I have not had the opportunity to really get familiar with the organ, which is a small instrument with extensions and exposed pipes. Nothing is under expression. I am, therefore, pulling out some favourites of mine. I shall not able to rehearse the choir until Sunday morning; so, there are no anthems, just organ music.

This is what I have come up with:

Preludes: Wachet auf, Rosalie Bonighton

               Wachet auf, Emma Lou Diemer

Offertory: Morceau pour le deuxième dimanche de l’Avent, Charles Alexis Chauvet

Communion: Christe Redemptor omnium, Ronald Arnatt

Postlude: Carillon-Sortie, César Franck

Rosalie Bonighton is one of my favourite and useful contemporary composers. From her bio at the Australian Music Centre:

Bonighton (b 1946) gained a Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne and completed her Master of Arts (Music) at La Trobe University in composition, including a thesis on Contemporary Liturgical Music and the Composer. Among Bonighton's musical influences are plainchant modes, British and Celtic folk song, the extended harmonic tensions and ambiguities of late German Romanticism, multi-rhythmic/ -metric groupings, jazz harmonies and syncopated effects, and some modified serial techniques. When composing music, the functional requirements of a piece of music heavily influence Bonighton's choice of style, compositional techniques, structure, performing resources and level of performance difficulty. Originality in such instances is directed towards the craft of integrating aesthetic considerations with user requirements.

Emma Lou Diemer, while I do not personally always like her subject material nor style, is an accomplished musician. When she is good, as I think she is in this piece, she is very good.

From Wikipedia:

Diemer (b 1927) is a keyboard performer and over the years has given concerts of her own organ works at Washington National Cathedral, The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, Grace Cathedral and Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, and others. Diemer received both her BM and her MM from the Yale School of Music in 1949 and 1950, respectively. She then went on to study composition in Brussels, Belgium on a Fulbright Scholarship from 1952 to 1953, ultimately returning to the United States to receive her PhD from the Eastman School of Music in 1960. She was professor of theory and composition at the University of Maryland 1965-70, and joined the faculty of the University of California (UCSB) in 1971. She is professor emeritus, 1991–present.

From Wikipedia.fr on Charles-Alexis Chauvet:

Chauvet (1837-1871) began his career at the organist at Saint Rémi de Marines at the tender age of 11, subsequently entering the Paris Conservatory at 13! His most notable position was at Sainte Trinité in Paris as the titular organist on the new Cavaillé Coll, which position he held until his death at 34. He was renown for his improvisation and was regularly invited to do the dedicatory recitals of Paris organs, along with César Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns. He and Franck were considered by their contemporaries to be the most gifted and refined of composers.

Ronald Arnatt (b 1930) has had a professional career spanning both sides of the Atlantic. After receiving his music education at Trinity College, London, and Durham University in England, he emigrated to the United States. In the US, Arnatt has held positions at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston; Westminster Choir College, Princeton; and Christ Church Cathedral, Saint Louis; among many others. Arnatt is past President of the American Guild of Organists. He is currently Director of Music and Organist at Saint John’s Church, Beverly Farms, Massachusetts.

César Franck (1822-1890). One hardly knows where to begin. I personally hold him and Joseph Jongen in very high esteem. Both were born in Liège, Belgium. And they wrote in a similar chromatic and romantic style. I should encourage one to read the Wikipedia article on Franck. As a indication of highly esteemed he was both as a pedagogue and organist, Parisians, who are consummate organ snobs, call him their own. That speaks volumes. His most famous position was organist at Sainte Clothilde. He had a close working relationship with the organ building firm of Cavaillé Coll, often demonstrating their organs and doing dedicatory recitals. A professor at the Paris Conservatory, his students include Vincent d'Indy, Ernest Chausson, Louis Vierne, and Henri Duparc, who called his ‘Father’ Franck.