The second set of William Herschel’s organ music, edited by David Baker and Christopher Bagot, has now been published by Fitzjohn Music Publications.  Further details are available at http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/fitzjohnmusic/. 

 Herschel’s life and Career

Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was born in 1738 in Hanover, Germany, one of ten children (only six of whom survived to adulthood) of Isaac and Anna Herschel. Along with his elder brother Jacob and younger brothers Alexander and Dietrich, William (as he later became known in England) received a sound musical education from his father Isaac. At the age of fifteen, Herschel was in the local militia, visiting England in 1756. The following year he resigned and came to London with brother Jacob on a more permanent basis. By this time, he was proficient on violin, oboe and organ (having perhaps been taught by Jacob) as well as a good linguist.

By early 1760, William was head of a small band of two oboes and two horns in the North Yorkshire militia. Dr Edward Miller, Organist of Doncaster Parish Church, saw Herschel’s potential and he soon become well known across the region, composing many symphonies and concertos as well as performing on the oboe and violin and directing prestigious concerts. Herschel was also sought out as a teacher of nobility and gentry, often giving up to 40 lessons a week. Herschel became director of concerts in Leeds in 1762. This resulted in further success as a performer, but he decided that having a post as organist would give more financial security. He was regularly practising on the organ at Leeds Parish Church by 1766. In August of that same year, he became organist at Halifax Parish Church, where Johann Snetzler had recently completed a large three-manual organ.  Herschel only stayed for three months, however, leaving on 30 November 1766 to be organist at the newly-established Octagon Chapel in Bath.

Herschel went on to carve out a highly successful career in what was then one of the premier and most fashionable cities in England. The fact that he was now in lucrative and steady employment meant that he could devote himself increasingly to science and astronomy, which he did on a full-time basis from 1782, when he retired from the Octagon Chapel, moving to Windsor in 1785. His organist appointments in Halifax and Bath encouraged and indeed necessitated that he should compose and make music on a substantial scale. Aside from his works for organ, his compositions – mostly written by the late 1760s – included symphonies, concertos, harpsichord sonatas, an opera, an oratorio, instrumental and secular vocal music as well as pieces for the choir of the Octagon Chapel, the latter written after 1767.  John Herschel’s catalogue of his father’s musical output lists over 80 works for organ, including two organ concertos. Until now, little has been published or recorded. The organ compositions often include detailed registrations that may have been for the organs at Leeds and Halifax. No specification of the former instrument in the 1760s survives, but that for Halifax is given at the end of this editorial note as an aid to registration of the music, discussed later.  

The Present Volume

This edition has been transcribed from the autograph score in Edinburgh University Library.  The title page of the autograph score reads: ’12 Full Pieces for the Organ/2nd Set.’ As with the first set of ‘full’ organ pieces, it seems clear that the composer was compiling a volume for possible publication, with pages set aside for each work. The collection was never finished, however.  The extant compositions are as follows:

1          Allegro in G major

2          Allegro – Adagio in D minor

3          Allegro in B flat major

4          Allegro in A minor

5          Allegro in C major

6          Allegro in G minor

7          Allegro in E minor [incomplete]

8          Allegro in D minor

9          Allegro moderato in B minor [incomplete]

10        Allegro ma non troppo in G major [incomplete]

11        Allegro in C major

12        Missing 

Editorial Approach

The original scores use C clefs in places. Passages noted in this way have been transcribed using either G or F clefs as appropriate. Registration instructions have been regularised where there is inconsistency. Editorial additions are denoted by [ ] or () in the case of added or cautionary accidentals. Notes in smaller type are also editorial. Given the gaps in the original score, Herschel’s numbering of the pieces has not been replicated.

Performance Practice

The pieces were written for a G compass organ with a swelling mechanism but without pedals, though there is occasional evidence that Herschel was imitating the organs of his homeland – with pedals – in his writing for the left hand. The last page of the autograph score of the 12 Full Organ Pieces (first set) contains the specification of what appears to be a two-manual organ typical of the period:  

Gr[eat]

Open Dia[pason]

Stop’d Dia[pason]

Princ[ipal]

Flute

12^th

15^th

Sesqui[altera] [Bass?]

Corn[et] [Treble?]

Trump[et] [Bass?]

Trump[et] [Treble?]

[Swell]

Open D[iapason]

Princ[ipal]

Trump[et]

Hautb[oy]

However, Herschel’s registration instructions suggest the music was intended for a much larger and more versatile instrument of three manuals such as that at Halifax Parish Church.

Choir

Open Diapason

Stopped Diapason

Principal

Flute

Fifteenth

Cremona

Bassoon (‘up to c’)

Vox Humana

Great

Open Diapason

Open Diapason

Stopped Diapason

Principal

Twelfth

Fifteenth

Sesquialtra IV [with tierce]

Furniture III [without tierce]

Cornet V (from middle c)

Trumpet

Bass Clarion

Swell (enclosed)

Open Diapason

Stopped Diapason

Principal

Cornet III

Hautboy

Trumpet

Compasses: Choir and Great – GG (no GG#) – e3 57 notes; Swell g – e3 34 notes

No couplers

The term ‘full’ implies that the music was written for ‘full organ’ as employed at the time. This would typically have involved the main flue chorus including, in the case of Halifax, one or other mixture (with or without the tierce rank) or both, with or without the Trumpet stop. It should be noted that Snetzler only provided a bass half to the 4’ Great Clarion at Halifax; this would have been complemented by the treble – only Cornet which together may therefore have formed a final addition to the full organ. Despite the title of the collection, many of the pieces are not written for a full combination of stops, as Herschel indicates in the score. Even those that are ‘fuller’ in texture typically have a good deal of dynamic variation, whether through use of the subsidiary manuals (Choir, Swell) or the Swell pedal.  The player should also think about places where dynamic changes not indicated by the composer might still be introduced. In many pieces, there are obvious opportunities for ‘echo’ effects. It should be noted that only the Great and Choir manuals were of full compass and only quieter passages (or those requiring a crescendo or diminuendo) that were in the upper part of the keyboard range would have been played on the Swell. The music is best performed on G compass organs, of which there is an increasing number. On C compass instruments a soft 16’ stop could be coupled to the main manual so that the lower notes GG-BB can sound when required. Herschel and his contemporaries would no doubt have added more ornaments than marked in the score. There is also scope for double dotting some rhythms.