Visionary Organ Music by Liszt and Reubke

Afternoon seminar

When Franz Liszt arrived as Capellmeister in Weimar in 1848 the local organists, notably Töpfer, raised his interest in the organ. With his first published organ composition, the utterly visionary Fantasy on “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam”, till then probably the longest organ piece ever composed, he revolutionized organ music both in a technical and a musical sense. Julius Reubke, then still a teenager, might have listened to the first performance of the piece in 1852. He became one of Liszt's most talented students, both as a pianist and as a composer, and emulated the example of his teacher in two sonatas, one of them for piano. His organ sonata takes clues not only from “Ad nos”, but also from Liszt's piano sonata, and adds the concept of program music by basing it on lines from Psalm 94. This icon of 19th century organ music shows what a loss the young genius' premature death has meant for the organ world. The seminar will explore the relation between the two masterworks, their musical content and performance implications.