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Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:32 am
by rob
Op. XXXIX wrote:...Here is the anecdote: there was a performance of the Bach B minor scheduled one Sunday afternoon at the Temple Church, but all of a sudden Walford Davies was taken sick. They called in a substitute, and just before the rehearsal, the conductor said: 'oh yes, we always take it down a half step!'
This reminds me of a tale Andre Previn used to tell: On his appointment as chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in the Sixties, at the first rehearsal, the orchestra started the first piece a semitone flat expecting Previn not to notice. Just a few notes in Previn stopped the orchestra and said "Very funny - now in the right key please gentlemen!".

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:45 am
by HullandHellandHalifax
rob wrote:
Op. XXXIX wrote:...Here is the anecdote: there was a performance of the Bach B minor scheduled one Sunday afternoon at the Temple Church, but all of a sudden Walford Davies was taken sick. They called in a substitute, and just before the rehearsal, the conductor said: 'oh yes, we always take it down a half step!'
This reminds me of a tale Andre Previn used to tell: On his appointment as chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in the Sixties, at the first rehearsal, the orchestra started the first piece a semitone flat expecting Previn not to notice. Just a few notes in Previn stopped the orchestra and said "Very funny - now in the right key please gentlemen!".
When we enter the field of transposition we are in a real no win situation. From a singers point of view doing the Bach half a tone lower would be ideal especially as A = 425 would have been closer to that used in Bachs day, A=440 would be too high for comfortable singing. As a rule when accompanying Handel and Bach I usually play it a semitone lower which the singer nearly always finds much better in all aspects. Obviously it causes more problems for the keyboard players as the hand position will be generally speaking awkward. Oddly enough the Toccata in F or should I say F# seems quite comfortable under the hands and feet :lol: :lol:

I don't know what the piece was that Previn wanted "in the right key" but it may have been better sounding in the lower key, of course the opposite could also be true, it would depend on the piece, if it was from the Classical period, lower might well be an improvement. There have been books written about this phenomenon and the problems and pitfalls of the various tuning methods and what pitch should be used for the A, of course we have to blame the French woodwind manufacturers for forcing pitch up to make the instruments sound brighter (hyperactive also?) for Berlioz and all his needs, someone has to take the blame. :mrgreen:

regards
Brian

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:15 pm
by HTIEKFR
Hello
I'm looking for a solo organ transcription of Caccini's Ave Maria
Thanks

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:41 pm
by HullandHellandHalifax
HTIEKFR wrote:Hello
I'm looking for a solo organ transcription of Caccini's Ave Maria
Thanks
Hi HTIEKFR, Sorry can't help, I only have a version for organ and soloist and choir by the Russian organist Oleg Yashchenko. He also falsely attributes it to Caccini though as most people now know it was a pastiche published after his death by the Russian composer Vavilov. The organ part is a real accompaniment and would not easily transcribe with the vocal line, though I might give it a try sometime as it is an "in-demand" piece at funerals and weddings.
Hope someone else can help if not then I will see what time I have. The only problem is that Vavilov died less than 40 years ago so copyright may be a problem especially as the composer who died over 300 years ago didn't write it. Therefore the editor who is probably still alive even though he remains anonymous complicates the copyright rules even further.
best wishes
Brian

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:55 am
by HTIEKFR
Thank you very much for the informations.
Rgds

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2024 11:11 am
by Timtin
This is a enquiry about a rather nice album of 'Selected Voluntaries', some loose pages of which I recently purchased from a charity shop. The pages don't have any plate number, and because the cover is also missing, I'm unable to determine who the publisher is. It would be great to find out, so that it may be possible to buy the entire album.
The pages I do have are nos. 1-42 and 55-96, so it's the middle pages (plus the cover) that are missing. The music is various arrangements for organ (manuals only) of works mainly by Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Mendelssohn, one example of which is posted below. The arranger of some of these works is identified as W.L.F, whoever that may be.
Any further information about this mystery album would be really appreciated, thank you.
Handel - O be joyful in the Lord (arr. WLF).pdf

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 10:56 am
by HullandHellandHalifax
Hi Tim,
I think I might have the answer to your questions, I cannot be sure as I have no time today but hopefully tomorrow I will be able to mount an expedition into my organ stacks which are hidden behind some piano stacks etc. as I believe I have the album in question.
According to my info the Album is Gems for the Organ Book 1 published around about 1920 by Bayley & Ferguson, the volume has 96 pages so that would suggest it is the right one, there is a copy on sale at the Sheet Music warehouse and in America. There are 4 or 5 books in the series.
The arranger is unknown though could be Walter Lynnwood Farnam (1885-1930) who was trained in London before becoming organist to a big church in New York, his only published composition is a Toccata on O Filii. This volume has arrangements by many arrangers led by W.R.B.Tann et al.
Anyway I will dig it out tomorrow and confirm or not that what you have is the same.
cheers
Brian

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 12:08 pm
by Jean-Séb
Based on the format, I reached the same conclusion/guess :
https://collection.motat.nz/objects/232 ... at-masters

Code: Select all

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Selected-Voluntaries-No-2-Harmonium-American/dp/B003M4QNNO
Apparently there were two volumes of voluntaries published.

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 6:31 pm
by Timtin
Hi 3H and J-S - thank you both for your excellent detective work. The loose pages I've got look like they've been published quite recently, so presumably it's a reprint of the original edition.

Re: Organ transcriptions

Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:58 pm
by HullandHellandHalifax
Hi Tim,
please see attached, I have somewhere in a box an album for harmonium called Selected Movements published by Bayley & Ferguson and I expect it is what you have. However I also have Gems for the organ Book 1 also published by Bayley & Ferguson with the Handel on page 1. The difference between both settings is that for the organ, the left hand was the left hand whereas the harmonium version which I am sure yours is has for left hand the pedal part of the organ version leaving the left hand out altogether. Anyway here is the title page and table of contents and page 1. let the search continue.
cheers
Brian
Gems for the organ - Bayley & Ferguson - title-contents-page 1.pdf