# Composers Who Were Organists



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I'm listening to some organ music today and thinking about some of the composers who were organists like Bach, Messiaen, Franck, Poul Ruders, etc.

*Who are other composers that were trained as organists?

How did their training as organists impact their compositions?

What legacy did they leave to the organ repertoire?*

At the moment I am thinking of Messian. Much of his orchestral music feels like organ music (or was originally written for organ) with lots of sustained chorales and with an emphasis on the mixing of orchestral colors.






And then you have his organ music itself. I love the menacing clustered chords in this work:






Poul Ruders: Symphony no. 4 (An Organ Symphony) features an organ inside a symphony that is quite organ-like


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Bruckner but he didn't write for organ (if I'm not mistaken).


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Some of my favorite organist-composers:

Anton Bruckner - his symphonies are scored very much like using organ stops.

Franz Schmidt - wrote significant works for organ, but not too well known outside of Germany/Austria. Best known for the orchestral works. The oratorio The Book with Seven Seals has a marvelous and formidable organ part.

Charles Marie Widor is best known for the organ symphonies, but there's a substantial body of non-organ works. 

Charles Tournemire - great French organist and orchestral symphony composer. Kind of obscure.

Leo Sowerby - American 20th c composer wrote in a conservative style. His Medieval Poem for organ and orchestra is haunting.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

César Franck. Handel. That French guy whose name starts with V


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

The French organ school - Franck, Durufle, Widor, Dupre, Vierne, Alain, Langlais. These guys need more attention among mainstream listeners!


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

Contemporary composer Wolfgang Mitterer was trained as an organist, and he's often the organist in the recordings of those works that involve an organ. But to be honest, I don't hear an organ influence in his style, especially when the instrumental writing is overlaid with tons of electronic effects. There's a collage-like feel to his music that reminds me of Schnittke.

_inwendig losegelöst_ is his best known work.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

J. S. Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Mozart, Liszt, Franck, Verdi among others.


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## DaddyGeorge (Mar 16, 2020)

I will add Dieterich Buxtehude.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> The French organ school - Franck, Durufle, Widor, Dupre, Vierne, Alain, Langlais. These guys need more attention among mainstream listeners!


That is one, as I think there is another more recent one, perhaps not as famous.

This is great!





A Death at the Organ: The Life and Works of Louis Vierne


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Another one who I think wrote some fascinating music and who is often overlooked is Max Reger.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

If I'm not mistaken I believe the recently deceased Ib Nørholm was an organist.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Liszt described Saint-Saëns as 'the greatest organist in the world'. (I heard this just the other day on my local radio station, and in trying to look up the quote to get it right, I borrowed it from Classic FM.)

Wikipedia also cites this claim, attributing it to Rees, Brian (1999). Camille Saint-Saëns – A Life. London: Chatto and Windus (87) and Harding, James (1965). Saint-Saëns and his Circle. London: Chapman and Hall. (62).


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Féte by Jean Langlais. Performed by Christopher Young


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

20centrfuge said:


> Who are other composers that were trained as organists?


I believe most major keyboard composers before the "pianoforte era" were rudimentarily trained as organists. For example, "in 1770 Clementi made his first public performance as an organist. The audience was reported to be impressed with his playing, thus beginning one of the outstandingly successful concert pianist careers of the period."
"Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (1729 - 1777) was a German organist and composer at Salzburg Cathedral and at court, and composed a good deal of liturgical music (including eight masses and two requiems) as well as oratorios and orchestral and keyboard works. He died at Salzburg in 1777 of a stroke suffered while playing the organ. Mozart succeeded him as Organist at Salzburg Cathedral in 1777."

I can also think of Emanuel Bach's organ concerto in G major, which is one of my favorite compositions by him.



> How did their training as organists impact their compositions?


"When I told Herr Stein (a renowned clavier-maker and organ-builder) that I should like to play his organ, since the organ was my passion, he was greatly surprised and said, "What! can such a man as you, such a great pianist, wish to play on an instrument devoid of douceur, of expression, of piano and forte, one which is always the same?" -"Oh, there is nothing in that. The organ is still, to my eyes and ears, the king of instruments.""
-Mozart, in a letter to his father (Augsburg, 17~18th October, 1777)

I think Mozart is an interesting case in how he sort of "bridges" the 18th century with the later "pianoforte era". During his lifetime, he was well-acquainted with all the 4 keyboard instruments -that is, not just the fortepiano, but also the harpsichord (the instrument which his _non-legato_ keyboard technique is largely based), clavichord (for composition), and organ (for improvisation). For example, in the 3 pieces he was commissioned to write for the mechanical organ late in life (K.594, K.608, K.616), his familiarity with the organ, and facility in writing for the instrument are evident.






He also visited the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1789 and played the organ there, and Johann Friedrich Doles (who succeeded Sebastian as the cantor), was impressed. Doles also had his choir sing some Bach motets (including Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 225) for Mozart, btw.

Mozart's _orgelsolomesse_ K.259 (1776), one of my least favorite missae breves by him (since it's somewhat derivative of the neighboring credomesse K.257, spaurmesse K.258 while being weaker in effect and less ambitious in scope), features an obbligato organ solo in the _benedictus_.








> What legacy did they leave to the organ repertoire?


Andante in F-dur, KV 616
Fugue in E flat major K153
Fantasie in F minor K608
Fugue in G minor K154
Suite in C major K399 (Overture)
Contrapunto a 4 in B minor K620b 
Fantasie in F minor K594
Fugue in G major K443


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Franck actually got his start as a pianist. He more or less drifted into becoming an organist, though he did them put down deep roots.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

mbhaub said:


> Anton Bruckner - his symphonies are scored very much like using organ stops.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Frederik Magle our site owner is another one.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

20centrfuge said:


> I'm


Froberger
Max Reger


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

Ralph Vaughan Williams (sort of: studied it a lot and the only paid employment he ever took was as organist at St. Barnabas, saarf London).


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Heinrich Schütz was considered one of the finest organists in Europe, yet he wrote virtually no instrumental music.

Mendelssohn was a highly skilled organist, mostly self-taught. It appears to have been his instrument of choice and while traveling, whether in major cities or tiny villages, he invariably gravitated to the organ loft, where he would spend hours playing the works of Bach or simply improvising. He gave many organ recitals before large crowds, especially in England, but composed only two works for organ to which he assigned an Opus number.

Samuel Barber became the organist at his local church at the age of twelve. The position was short lived, however, due to the young Barber's refusal to hold fermatas in hymns and responses. He wrote about half a dozen organ pieces.


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## Ekim the Insubordinate (May 24, 2015)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> The French organ school - Franck, Durufle, Widor, Dupre, Vierne, Alain, Langlais. These guys need more attention among mainstream listeners!


I love them all, and have many recordings from them. I particularly like Widor's organ symphonies.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Charles Ives was an organist in his youth, and wrote some pieces for organ.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> Ralph Vaughan Williams (sort of: studied it a lot and the only paid employment he ever took was as organist at St. Barnabas, saarf London).


And then wrote precious little for the organ. Which is odd, considering his inclination to write at least one work for any and every musical format.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

RICK RIEKERT said:


> Mendelssohn was a highly skilled organist, mostly self-taught. It appears to have been his instrument of choice and while traveling, whether in major cities or tiny villages, he invariably gravitated to the organ loft, where he would spend hours playing the works of Bach or simply improvising. He gave many organ recitals before large crowds, especially in England, but composed only two works for organ to which he assigned an Opus number.


Well, yes, but that's also because he combined his six sonatas under one opus number. That's 70 minutes of (beautiful) organ music.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Verdi in his early days


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## Knorf (Jan 16, 2020)

Merl said:


> Bruckner but he didn't write for organ (if I'm not mistaken).


Organ parts are indicated in some of Bruckner's motets as well as in his Masses. But maybe you meant no solo organ works? If so, there were not many, but not none:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organ_compositions_by_Anton_Bruckner


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Mendelssohn played and composed for organ since childhood. From Wikipedia:



> His primary organ works are the Three Preludes and Fugues, Op. 37 (1837), and the Six Sonatas, Op. 65 (1845), of which Eric Werner wrote "next to Bach's works, Mendelssohn's Organ Sonatas belong to the required repertory of all organists".


Edward Elgar also played organ but I don't know if he composed any organ music.


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## Knorf (Jan 16, 2020)

annaw said:


> Edward Elgar also played organ but I don't know if he composed any organ music.


He did. Some great stuff, too.
http://www.elgar.org/3organ.htm


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Just a few English ones from Renaissance and Baroque periods

William Boyce
John Stanley 
Maurice Greene
William Byrd
Orlando Gibbons
John Redford
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tomkins
John Blow
Jeremiah Clarke
William Croft
Henry Purcell


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Czech composer Petr Eben was a distinguished organist. Furthermore, his organ music is stunning.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

consuono said:


> Another one who I think wrote some fascinating music and who is often overlooked is Max Reger.


His output for organ was exceeded only by chamber music, so that amounts to rather a lot.


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