Musical contribution - A. van Vliet - May 2011

Dear Organist, All the holy events within the church year have been addressed in the monthly contribution. Except – and not lastly to my own amazement – Ascension Day. Hence the choice for this song.

And as the aforementioned event falls in June this year, we still have plenty of time to study this fantastic trio.

My good friend and colleague Jorrit Woudt dedicated this trio to me on the occasion of my 25th organists’ anniversary in 2009.

A nice extra detail is that the writer – Clara Feyoena van Raesfelt-Van Sytzama – was resident in Heemse, the place where Jorrit is now an organist.

The melody is a so-called Hernhutter melody and has been recorded in various different bundles.

We are dealing with a trio here.  This means that all 3 lines are equal.  This ultimately results in the registration being of the utmost importance.  They can’t be too different where the strength is concerned on the one hand, plus on the other hand we would recommend working with different tones to aid the clarity.  A trio like this can’t be played with a reed stop, as the melody appears in all three voices.

Jorris himself recommends using an 8’ and 4’ flute on one keyboard and a principal stop on the other keyboard.  Please note: there is an oct. 4’ in the score, but this voice has been written down one octave too high. (Please refer to the violin key at the beginning.)  This is the most obvious choice, considering this trio’s character.  But as I have said many times before: there are also plenty of other possibilities.

Most organists will agree with me when I say that playing a trio is just about the most difficult piece to play.  Precisely because the pedal is also thought of as melodious.  This is why it’s a good idea to play all the parties separately first, then 2 voices at the same time and lastly to get to grips with all voices.  Or – as one of my teachers used to say - : try to sing one of the voices alongside your organ playing.

Enjoy!

André van Vliet