Toccata in E Major, BWV 566 - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Three Canzonettas - Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
I Canzonetta in G Major
II Canzonetta in G minor
III Canzonetta in A minor
Prelude in C Major - Charles Callahan (1951-2023)
Two Pieces – Dorothy Papadakos (born 1960)
Lucis Creator Optime
The Women at the Tomb
Prelude and Fugue in E Minor - John Weaver (1937-2021)
Program Notes
Bach is believed to have composed his Toccata in E sometime around 1705. This mammoth work resembles, in form, the Praeludia of Buxtehude and Bruhns, influential composers of the North German tradition. As in the Praeludia, flamboyant, improvisatory sections are alternated with stricter contrapuntal passages. A bold opening section, featuring an extensive pedal solo, is followed by a large-scale fugue. After this fugue, there is another improvisatory section, and then finally a triple meter fugue, based on a modified version of the first fugue’s subject.
We follow Bach with the music of the man Bach walked some 200 miles to see. Danish organist and composer Dieterich Buxtehude was the organist at St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck, where his imposing reputation attracted the visit of not only Bach but also of George Frideric Handel. A lesser-known fact is that Buxtehude also served St. Mary’s in the role of church treasurer. While Buxtehude is perhaps best remembered for his aforementioned large-scale Praeludia, he wrote a good number of smaller pieces, called Canzonettas. These works are fugal miniatures, sprightly in nature and simple in construction. The Canzonetta in G is notable because its second half is a gigue fugue based on a modified version of the works original subject - the same treatment we see in Bach’s Toccata.
Charles Callahan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1951. He was a graduate of both The Catholic University of America and The Curtis Institute of Music, the latter a lineage he shared with John Weaver, who concludes this program. Callahan’s legacy as a composer is not marked by flashiness or by large, Herculean compositions. Rather, it is defined by a quiet steadiness. Hardly a church musician is not indebted to Callahan for his sweeping collection of hymn-based works, simple enough to play, but impeccably constructed. The Prelude in C is a lyrical work based on original melodic ideas. Sharing some commonalities sonically with the prelude from Ravel’s Ma mère l'Oye, this work taps into the lusher, more orchestral side of the organ.
Dorothy Papadakos is very difficult to summarize in a paragraph, because she has excelled in so many different things ranging from her landmark improvisations to her work as an author. In the organ world, perhaps she is best known for her time as cathedral organist at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. During her tenure at the cathedral, she gained notoriety for incorporating jazz-influenced styles into liturgical music. This is abundantly visible in her improvisations which blend the classical tradition of organ improvisation with jazz harmonies and rhythms. Her two works heard on this program, which are essentially her improvisations in notated forms exemplify this. Lucis Creator Optime (O Blest Creator of the light) takes the chant for which it is named and sets it in a blazing rhumba, gracefully imbued with jazz harmonies. The Women at the Tomb, as its title implies, portrays the account of the women at the tomb discovering Jesus’s resurrection. The work is a setting of the hymn Hail Thee, Festival Day. This work is underpinned by a gradual crescendo, working its way from a few soft stops to full organ and working through wonderfully colorful jazz progressions as it does so.
The impact of John Weaver on the modern American concert organist scene cannot be overstated. The chair of the organ departments of The Curtis Institute (1972-2003) and The Juilliard School (1987-2004), Weaver taught some of the organ world’s brightest stars (including Dorothy Papadakos), many of whom have themselves become teachers at prominent institutions, such as Curtis, Juilliard, and Rice. As a composer, Weaver crafted a language uniquely his own, but with influences ranging from French to jazz. The Prelude and Fugue in e minor is one of Weaver’s more ambitious works for organ. The beginning of the Prelude drips with harmonies reminiscent of Messiaen before giving way to an agitated rhythmic section, likely inspired by Weaver’s well-known love of trains and railroads. The fugue opens in a dissonant manner, almost bringing Shostakovich to mind, moves through some playful episodes, and steadily builds to a triumphant, French-style toccata at the end. Based on what I have heard about John Weaver as a person, this piece captures him well. Though the piece carries a serious demeanor, every now and then an unexpected joke will catch you off guard.
Biography of Aaron Patterson
Aaron Patterson is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship and earned his Master’s Degree in organ performance under the tutelage of Paul Jacobs. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree as the Charles and Judith Freyer Annual Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied organ performance with Alan Morrison. He also received a certificate in harpsichord performance with Leon Schelhase. Prior to this, Mr. Patterson studied organ with Dennis Elwell and piano with Dolly Krasnopolsky.
Mr. Patterson won first place at the 2017 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition and the 2016 West Chester University International Organ Competition. He has also been a recipient of the Pogorzelski-Yankee Memorial Scholarship from the American Guild of Organists and the Bart Pitman Memorial Music Scholarship from the Delaware Valley Music Club.
Mr. Patterson loves collaboration and has performed with orchestras, violinists, flautists, choirs, and other keyboardists. His performance venues include the Wanamaker Grand Court, where he is an assistant organist, Boardwalk Hall, and the Kimmel Center. Mr. Patterson is director of music at Cresheim Valley Church in Philadelphia. He formerly served as assistant organist at Tenth Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia) and organ scholar at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church in Whitemarsh, PA.
A Christian and a native of Philadelphia, Mr. Patterson enjoys Bible study, reading, hiking, cooking, and following Major League Baseball.