Vasa Church – The Lundén organ (1909)/Rieger (2019) 14:30–17:00

(Admission free)

Echoes of Older Composers in the Works of Max Reger

Max Reger’s Organ Music and Principles of Their Performance.

Ludger Lohmann, presenter

The seminar will explore the various groups of his works and their typical compositional features, including parallels between larger and smaller forms, and also some references to older composers. Concerning performance, the most essential parameters will be addressed: tempo and agogics, phrasing and articulation, and registration.

St. James’s Church (Sankt Jakobs kyrka) – Keyboard Instrument Collection

14:30-17:00

(Admission free)

Echoes of the Ancient World: Come and Meet the Muses!

Putting Classical Archetypes to work for us as inspirations for performance

Joel Speerstra, moderator

Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656-1746) wrote suites based on the nine muses of classical mythology. How much do we know about these goddesses, and how much of their characters did Fischer realize in the pieces? The 17th-century keyboard composers drew on these archetypes and many others from sources like Ovid’s Metamorphoses to make emblematic keyboard literature that expresses rhetorical stories we can decode today. How can we use our new knowledge of these archetypes in our performances and get deeper enjoyment of this music as listeners? This seminar will focus on starting to own these archetypes again as performers and musical orators.

Presentations will include the following:

– Christa Rakich will celebrate the anniversary of William Byrd, (1543-1623), whose music was published in the first emblematic book of keyboard music Parthenia, c. 1612

– Edoardo Bellotti will open a window into the art of oratory from the Prima e seconda prattica focusing particularly on the Possente spirito from Monteverdi’s Orfeo, as the perfect Model of Rhetoric

– Joel Speerstra will unpack some of his research into codes and musical puzzles especially drawing the portraits of the Muses present in Fischer and Pachelbel

– Ruth Tatlow will present new research on when and why voices break into unison and octaves in texted music 1680-1760. On a few memorable occasions Handel, Bach and others broke off their complex part writing and asked singers and instrumentalists to play a phrase or two in unison or at the octave. The effect is electrifying. Why would composers do such a thing? Drawing clues from the ancient understanding of proportions, and looking carefully at the words set in these phrases, Ruth will look for echoes of this practice in contemporary keyboard music – and ask what it might mean for the performer.

Örgryte New Church – The Willis organ (1871) 14:30–17:00

(Admission free)

Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens (1823-1881)

Joris Verdin, presenter

A general introduction to the role of Lemmens in organ playing in France and Belgium, and an exploration of performance parameters like tempo, metronome, articulation and legato absolu in the context of the sacred and the secular, with examples from Sonate Pontificale and the Grand Fantasia: “The Storm.”

Haga Church – Marcussen organ (1861)/Åkerman & Lund (2004) 14:30–17:00

(Admission free)

Elfrida Andrée´s Organ Music

Annette Richards, moderator

Jan H. Börjesson, Johan Hammarström, Jonas Lundblad, presenters

A presentation of the new edition of the organ works, an exploration of performance indications in the manuscripts, and a discussion of the context of Elfrida Andrée’s role as composer for the organ and organist in the 19th-century Scandinavia.