Musical contribution - October 2018

Preludium für die volle Orgel und obligaten Pedal - J.C. Kittel (1732-1809) (LiVE sample set: Groningen, Schnitger).

This month we have an organ work by one of J.S. Bach’s last pupils. We don’t know much about this organist from Erfurt. We do know that he preferred to work with students, rather than giving concerts. We also know that he enjoyed composing, and was very prolific. If you carry out a superficial search, you won’t find much by him. But some detective work has revealed that a lot of his work has been preserved, and as a result we have another bundle of more than 150 choral arrangements. These are often manualiter compositions, and small in scale.

The prelude we are offering you this month appears to be a pedal exercise, although it would certainly not be out of place on a concert program. “Für die volle Orgel” tells us all we need to know about the registration. For my own part, I’ve added the alternation between ff and f. Play it brightly, and you’ll have a wonderful prelude.

With musical regards,

André van Vliet