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Organ repertoire
The organ repertoire is considered to be the largest and oldest repertory of all musical instruments. Because of the organ's (or pipe organ's) prominence in worship in Western Europe from the Middle Ages on, a significant portion of organ repertoire is sacred in nature. The organ's suitability for improvisation by a single performer is well adapted to this liturgical role and has allowed many blind organists to achieve fame; it also accounts for the relatively late emergence of written compositions for the instrument in the Renaissance. Although instruments are still disallowed in most Eastern churches, organs have found their way into a few synagogues as well as secular venues where organ recitals take place.
The earliest surviving keyboard compositions (keyboard music was not instrument-specific until the sixteenth century) are from England (Robertsbridge Codex c. 1365) and Italy (Faenza Codex, 15th century). The organ is specified in Marco Antonio Cavazzoni's Recerchari, motetti, canzoni [...] libro primo, printed in Venice in 1523.
The English virginal style was a manner of composition and performance prevalent in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; some manuscripts are preserved in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Sweelinck was strongly influenced by this style. Organ music was almost exclusively based on learned contrapuntal, exemplified by the Fantasia ("Fancy"), as well as works based on contrapuntal treatment of chant. Composers well known for their choral works wrote organ music, for example Tallis, Byrd and Gibbons.
In France, baroque organ music (referred to as French classical music, despite being from the Baroque period) was almost exclusively liturgical in nature and composed and performed in a very systemized manner. In addition, the organs were built along standardized lines. The compositions were smaller scale compared with those in other countries. Some of the forms (the Plein jeu, the Récit de Cromorne, and the Tierce en Taille, for example) utilized almost no counterpoint, while others (the Duo, the Trio, and the Fugue) were contrapuntal in nature (though the counterpoint was not generally as complex as in Germany).[citation needed]
Handel contributed significantly to the organ repertoire through his numerous organ concertos.
In Germany and Austria, baroque organ music utilized increasing amounts of counterpoint. Organ music in the baroque can be divided into works based on Lutheran chorales (e.g. chorale preludes and chorale fantasias) and those not (e.g. toccatas, fantasias and free preludes). There are marked stylistic differences between the composers of North, South and Central Germany such that further generalisation is inaccurate. The North German Praeludium (an important form consisting of alternating sections of free material written in the largely misunderstood stylus phantasticus and fugal material) reached its zenith in Dieterich Buxtehude, informed by Matthias Weckmann and Heinrich Scheidemann (influenced most strongly by Jan Peeterszoon Sweelinck and by the Italian school transported to North Germany by Heinrich Schütz and Samuel Scheidt). Georg Böhm remained firmly representative of the South German School, though Johann Pachelbel's influence as a teacher extended across North, South and Central Germany. Baroque organ music arguably reached its height in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Many of Bach's earlier free works are heavily influenced by Buxtehude's style, but much more importantly, Bach developed a style essentially separate from the predominant styles of North, South and Central Germany. The majority of his free works consisted of two parts: a prelude, toccata or fantasia, and a fugue. Bach also wrote a large number of chorale preludes.
The great composers of the classical era wrote sparingly if at all for the organ: Haydn wrote for clockwork organs, and wrote several concerti for organ and orchestra. Beethoven and Mozart wrote only a handful of works. František Brixi and Georg Christoph Wagenseil also wrote organ concerti. All works are restricted to a single manual.
English composers John Stanley and William Boyce wrote a number of important works at this time but should be considered composers of the baroque, not classical era.
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Organ repertoire
The organ repertoire is considered to be the largest and oldest repertory of all musical instruments. Because of the organ's (or pipe organ's) prominence in worship in Western Europe from the Middle Ages on, a significant portion of organ repertoire is sacred in nature. The organ's suitability for improvisation by a single performer is well adapted to this liturgical role and has allowed many blind organists to achieve fame; it also accounts for the relatively late emergence of written compositions for the instrument in the Renaissance. Although instruments are still disallowed in most Eastern churches, organs have found their way into a few synagogues as well as secular venues where organ recitals take place.
The earliest surviving keyboard compositions (keyboard music was not instrument-specific until the sixteenth century) are from England (Robertsbridge Codex c. 1365) and Italy (Faenza Codex, 15th century). The organ is specified in Marco Antonio Cavazzoni's Recerchari, motetti, canzoni [...] libro primo, printed in Venice in 1523.
The English virginal style was a manner of composition and performance prevalent in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; some manuscripts are preserved in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Sweelinck was strongly influenced by this style. Organ music was almost exclusively based on learned contrapuntal, exemplified by the Fantasia ("Fancy"), as well as works based on contrapuntal treatment of chant. Composers well known for their choral works wrote organ music, for example Tallis, Byrd and Gibbons.
In France, baroque organ music (referred to as French classical music, despite being from the Baroque period) was almost exclusively liturgical in nature and composed and performed in a very systemized manner. In addition, the organs were built along standardized lines. The compositions were smaller scale compared with those in other countries. Some of the forms (the Plein jeu, the Récit de Cromorne, and the Tierce en Taille, for example) utilized almost no counterpoint, while others (the Duo, the Trio, and the Fugue) were contrapuntal in nature (though the counterpoint was not generally as complex as in Germany).[citation needed]
Handel contributed significantly to the organ repertoire through his numerous organ concertos.
In Germany and Austria, baroque organ music utilized increasing amounts of counterpoint. Organ music in the baroque can be divided into works based on Lutheran chorales (e.g. chorale preludes and chorale fantasias) and those not (e.g. toccatas, fantasias and free preludes). There are marked stylistic differences between the composers of North, South and Central Germany such that further generalisation is inaccurate. The North German Praeludium (an important form consisting of alternating sections of free material written in the largely misunderstood stylus phantasticus and fugal material) reached its zenith in Dieterich Buxtehude, informed by Matthias Weckmann and Heinrich Scheidemann (influenced most strongly by Jan Peeterszoon Sweelinck and by the Italian school transported to North Germany by Heinrich Schütz and Samuel Scheidt). Georg Böhm remained firmly representative of the South German School, though Johann Pachelbel's influence as a teacher extended across North, South and Central Germany. Baroque organ music arguably reached its height in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Many of Bach's earlier free works are heavily influenced by Buxtehude's style, but much more importantly, Bach developed a style essentially separate from the predominant styles of North, South and Central Germany. The majority of his free works consisted of two parts: a prelude, toccata or fantasia, and a fugue. Bach also wrote a large number of chorale preludes.
The great composers of the classical era wrote sparingly if at all for the organ: Haydn wrote for clockwork organs, and wrote several concerti for organ and orchestra. Beethoven and Mozart wrote only a handful of works. František Brixi and Georg Christoph Wagenseil also wrote organ concerti. All works are restricted to a single manual.
English composers John Stanley and William Boyce wrote a number of important works at this time but should be considered composers of the baroque, not classical era.