Prelude music
  • PolskaPiano
    Posts: 255
    In our diocese we have various safety guides in general as well as directives that state only a cantor and accompanist may be used at mass. I think the music during the liturgy is going well- congregant singing is wonderful, actually- but I have been asked to look at providing some sort of music before mass (piano or organ solos only to be in compliance with diocesan directives). Liturgical norms favor silence, and I tend to question whether my playing provides more benefit than silence for those to listen to God, so I did not play instrumental preludes regularly pre-COVID. My pastor- and actually congregants- have asked from some preludes to be done regularly during this time that would provide comfort, peace, and beauty. Before I dive into the online music stores, are there any particularly beautiful and effective you could recommend? I am looking for sheet music because I do not improvise (darn it). A recommended book would be even better. I am advanced piano but probably only intermediate organ. Open to and looking for music for both instruments.

    Thank you in advance.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    I think you might really like the liber organi collection found here:

    NOTE: You cannot click this link as it will not register... copy the following line of text and paste it into the browser address bar
    https://imslp.org/wiki/Liber_organi_(Dalla_Libera%2C_Sandro)
    Thanked by 2PolskaPiano Felicia
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    [I edited the link to make it work.]
    Thanked by 2CharlesW francis
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 685
    At my parish during June at a request by me, our music director played some old hymn tunes to the Sacred Heart, no singing, as prelude. There are many devotional hymns that could be used in this manner. A couple of weeks ago she did Jesus My Lord, My God, My All.
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    Try Flor Peeters - Sixty Short Pieces.
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    The function of the prelude is to set the tone of the day's celebration. If it is a joyful day or one that celebrates God's grandeur, Christ's kingship or lordship, etc., the prelude should reflect this and not be soft and maudlin. A Bach prelude, a Couperin plein jeu and basse de trompette, Langlais' Te Deum, etc., would prepare the people for the joyful nature of that day. Let the organ rejoice!

    On other occasions the prelude might be more subdued but not anything like soft 'background' music. There are many German choral preludes or French recits, etc., that would set the tone for such a day.

    Too, one should not overlook movements from Tournemire's L'orgue mystique, written for specific days of the liturgical kalendar. Each of its movements is based on a plainchant cantus firmus drawn from the day's propers.

    Whatever the day or season the prelude should most definitely not be soft, innocuous, background music. Such music is really not 'prayerful' - it is an insult from someone who has no imagination. It should always be real music of the highest calibre that relates to the day's theme and mood.

    And! There should be no announcements between the prelude and the processional hymn. One should modulate into the hymn and begin singing it immediately. There should always be an inviolable and uninterrupted flow from one part of the liturgy to the next, and this applies to the ornamental prelude (and postlude).

    Thanked by 3Chrism mmeladirectress CHGiffen
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    Please don't play piano preludes. I came to organ from being already an advanced pianist, and there is no shortage of real organ repertoire that is manageable. And at some point I looked back and said, "hey, look at that. I've been playing organ for 10 years, and my feet are actually not doing too bad anymore, e.g. they are part of my sight-reading apparatus just like my hands, even if I'm not an absolute whiz."

    *****

    Available on IMSLP, some collections of pieces which I have played either many selections from or in their entirety:

    Pachelbel - Magnificat fugues
    Titelouze - Versets
    DuMage - Suite du premiere ton (his only surviving work)
    Couperin - Messe pour les Couvents / pour les Paroisses
    Dandrieu - Offertoires
    Clerambault - Suites
    Daquin - Noels (Daquin is the king of Noels!)
    Lebegue - Noels, Offertoires
    Frescobaldi - Ricercars

    *****

    A technique I have used is to take something like a suite, and play the entire thing, either one movement each week, or else multiple movements each week if I wanted to present a more lengthy offering. I have also done that with sets of pieces, for example taken eight weeks and played the eight Little Preludes and Fugues of Bach. There are two advantages to such an approach: one is that you are forced to come to terms with the pieces of the set that have less immediate appeal, and the other is that when you are done you have added a much more substantial block to your list of played repertoire.

    [A side note: I did a blog post HERE describing how I played Couperin's Messe pour les Paroisses over the course of seven postludes. Another anecdote, once for a wedding I did, I could truthfully say that the organ music consisted of "The complete works of Pierre DuMage".]

    I would like to point out that the French Baroque concept of the organ is surprisingly unlike that of Bach. The use of the pedals in many cases falls into one of the following two categories: either 1) to take the cantus firmus in the tenor on say a 8' trumpet stop; or 2) to take the bass voice in a trio with a soft 8' flute. Neither of these is anything like the involvement of the pedals in a Bach fugue. And if you have a suite with eight movements, pedals as like as not will only feature in two, i.e. one of each.

    [Edit - I feel the need to put in a note as to what I have not played: Most of the Pachelbel I haven't played. Certainly not all of the Titelouze. And I never got to the Messe pour les Couvents, because I couldn't come up with an appropriate chant Mass to pair it with.]
    Thanked by 3Schönbergian CharlesW m_r_taylor
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    In my experience having to use an instrument without a pedalboard, Bach's works are about the latest that will work on both instruments. Sweelinck, Pachelbel, and some Buxtehude are among the works equally suited for stringed keyboard instruments and organ, and might be more approachable depending on your technique.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Note:

    Much of Jonathan’s list of music can be found in the link I provided above.
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    @francis, anthologies such as you have linked are one way of approaching repertoire, but I was also trying to "put in a advertisement" for the notion of drinking deeper draughts of the stuff, taking sometimes whole cycles of pieces rather than always excerpts. I think I stumbled on this idea when I was starting to feel like I had played all of the usable pieces in the collections that I had on hand in hard copy. It hit me - if this is a pretty good noel by Daquin, maybe there are other Noels out there? Etc. And in that particular case, it turned out when I played the rest of Daquin's noels that there are a good handful that I like better than the original one I knew from E. Power Biggs "Treasury of Early Organ Music". I have found a lot of music that way.

    (Anthologies have the advantage of broadening your outlook. And also bringing into easy view the accessible pieces so that you don't have to go hunting for them. I'm not really out to shoot down anthologies, I just don't think that they are the be all end all.)

    Playing complete cycles of pieces was also preferable to me because once I had decided how to program something, it would cover several weeks in a nice, satisfying trajectory. Just curious - has anyone else tried this?

    The thing to avoid was that a series of one-off's when I had run out of ideas could start to feel schizophrenic, or like I was scrabbling to keep up.

    Though, who knows how the congregation perceived either, if at all.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • TCJ
    Posts: 966
    JonathanKK,

    I have played through the Pachelbel Magnificat fugues in a cycle like you mentioned. Having a such a large set of pieces takes a lot of pressure off continuously searching for more instrumental music week after week. Plus, they're easy. I'm going to look into the Scheidemann Magnificat fugues next.
    Thanked by 2irishtenor francis
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Jonathan:

    Yes, I have the cycle of Mags by Pachelbel too. The guy was such a genius, Bach emulated his works.
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    How long did it take you to do all the Pachelbel Magnificat fugues?
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    I played through most of them when I downloaded the pdf files. Do you mean, how long to program playing them at Mass?
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