Celebrating the MAG Organ

PROGRAM NOTES

18th-century London was a thriving metropolis with a rich cultural life, attracting many musicians from abroad who found a fertile ground for establishing their professional careers as performers, composers, and concert organizers. George Frideric Handel may be the best known today, but other notable names include Francesco Geminiani (Italian music was all the rage in England at the time), J. C. Pepusch, and later C. F. Abel and J. C. Bach. English composers rearranged compositions by Italian composers, including Geminiani, absorbing their style and techniques into their own instrumental music. London had a population of ca. 500,000 at the time, making it the largest city in Europe, and it supported a large and growing middle class. They enjoyed not only attending concerts, but also playing music at home, which provided a market for printed music, and for arrangements of larger works for smaller ensembles. Keyboard players in particular avidly sought arrangements of the most fashionable instrumental and vocal music, and instrumental collections were issued in variety of formats, for the forces and expertise at hand.

Late Baroque Italian concertos generally featured melody instruments (primarily the violin), but it didn't take long before keyboard instruments also began taking center stage, in the hands of outstanding performers. The circumstances in England favored the organ due to some specific factors, one being the tradition established by Handel of performing concertos between the acts of his oratorios; his organ concertos were a great success in this context. Later, John Stanley's performances at Handel's oratorios were popular enough that there were audience complaints when illness prevented him from playing. Another factor influencing the use of the organ as a concert instrument was a surely unintended effect of the Puritans' purge of organs from churches—the instruments that could be saved ended up in homes, concert spaces, and taverns, so the experience of hearing organs in various secular environments was not uncommon.

The 1700s also saw the height of popularity of the London pleasure gardens, where, for a relatively modest entrance fee, Londoners could imagine themselves in the countryside, yet enjoy a sophisticated evening's entertainment under the stars, dance, stroll, eat and drink, and listen to music. Initially the gardens were all open air, but music halls (with booths for dining) were later built so that inclement weather would not be a problem. The music performed at the gardens could include premieres of concertos and orchestral works of the most prominent English composers of the day, with performances taking place nightly during the warmer months. In 1737, an organ was installed in the orchestral bandstand at Vauxhall Gardens, where it soon featured in organ concertos, as well as providing continuo for the orchestral works. The first set of organ concertos by a native Englishman – Henry Burgess, the organist of Vauxhall Gardens – was published three years later.

London was certainly not the only place in England to enjoy a good concert series. One of Geminiani's most notable students was Charles Avison (1709-1770), a composer, writer, and organist, active in Newcastle upon Tyne. Mostly known as a composer of concerti grossi, Avison modeled these mainly on those of Geminiani, but Avison's could definitely stand on their own; some of his works gained popularity lasting well into the 19th century. Avison was offered prestigious jobs in York, Dublin (on Geminiani's recommendation), Edinburgh, and London, but turned them all down in favor of staying in his hometown, where he was very active teaching, performing, and directing concerts. The concerto on our program was published in 1755 as a concerto grosso for string orchestra, with contrasting solo and tutti parts. Three years later, Avison published this concerto (with 27 others) in four-part score, “…to allow the performer every desirable opportunity to display those talents which are suitable to them.” Organists and harpsichordists could use the score to accompany the string players, or to perform them as solo concertos, according to their taste and talents. In tonight’s concert, the organ will play the role of the supporting tutti strings.

Today best known for his organ voluntaries, John Stanley (1712-1786) was one of the most celebrated performers of his time, as an organist, violinist, and concert director. Blind due to a childhood accident, according to contemporary reports his musical memory was such that when he needed to learn a new piece, his sister-in-law (who also wrote down all of his compositions) would play it through once, and he would already have it memorized. Besides solo organ repertoire he also composed vocal music, both sacred and secular, as well as instrumental ensemble music. His published cantatas and concerti grossi saw several reprints, testifying to their popularity. His organ voluntaries are full of musical invention and vivid registrational colors. The Voluntary played tonight is marked “Full Organ” and evokes the melodic and textural gestures of Stanley’s concerti grossi for strings, themselves influenced by Corelli and Handel. We will also perform two movements of Stanley’s op. 2 Concerto Grosso in a minor, with the organ as concertino soloist. Stanley published these concertos in an arrangement for solo keyboard, with solo and tutti sections indicated. In the eminently practical market of English music publishing and music-making, keyboard players could provide continuo accompaniment for string concertos; become the concerto soloist by playing the concertino parts with string accompaniment; or play the entire concerto (all parts) on their own. This practice was an important factor in the development of the English solo keyboard concerto.

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762), born in the Tuscan town of Lucca, and who found fame in London as a violin virtuoso, theorist, and teacher, spent a couple of years in Rome studying with Alessandro Scarlatti, and with the influential violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli. His admiration for Corelli is evident in much of his output; a well-known example is his arrangements of Corelli's famous Op. 5 violin sonatas as concerti grossi. The Concerto on our program is based on Corelli's Op. 5 No. 7, a sonata da camera in d minor, consisting of a prelude followed by a suite of dances. Geminiani's addition of inner parts and solo-tutti sections adds contrast and interest to this beautiful sonata, and here again we will hear the organ filling in the tutti string parts. Charles Avison – whose music opens tonight’s concert – was among several English composers who arranged solo violin sonatas from Geminiani’s Op. 1 as string concertos, further extending this pattern of reworking and stylistic influence.

The son of a carpenter, William Boyce (1711-1779) was admitted to the music school at St. Paul's Cathedral as a young boy. When his voice broke, he continued his studies with the Cathedral organist Maurice Greene, and later also with Pepusch, and he went on to become one of England's most celebrated composers, writing music for the court, theater, as well as for home enjoyment. Progressive deafness hindered his performance career, but he continued to provide anthems and odes for the court well into his later years. Although the overwhelming majority of his oeuvre is vocal music, his instrumental music should not be overlooked. According to Charles Burney, Boyce's Twelve Sonatas for Two Violins and a Bass were "not only in constant use, as chamber Music, in private concerts, for which they were originally designed, but in theatres, as act-tunes, and public gardens, as favourite pieces, during many years." His only collection of organ music was published posthumously in 1779 as Ten Voluntaries for the Organ or Harpsichord composed by the late Dr William Boyce.

James Hook (1746-1827) began performing publicly on the harpsichord at age 6, in his hometown of Norwich, and wrote his first opera (unfortunately lost) at 8 years old. He settled in London while still a teenager and began his career as organist in a tea garden; before long, the songs he wrote (often for specific singers) were performed at the main pleasure gardens. He wrote operas that were produced at the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theaters, and published collections of his popular pleasure garden songs. From 1774-1820 he held a position at Vauxhall Gardens as organist and composer, and among his duties there he performed an organ concerto every night, so one can easily imagine that the concerto on our program would have been heard there. More than a generation younger than any of the other composers on our program, he embraced the more modern galant style in his music. And if you listen carefully, you might just overhear the birds of the pleasure garden making an occasional appearance in tonight’s performance!