Saturday 6 July, 10:30-15:30, City of London
Further information and booking details can be found here
The Organs:
St Botolph without Aldgate, London EC3N 1AB—with pipework dating from earlier than 1704 and restored to its 1744 state by Goetze and Gwynn in 2006, this instrument can lay claim to being England’s oldest surviving church organ. Click here for the history and specification.
St George’s German Lutheran Church, 55 Alie Street, London E1 8EB—built by Walcker in 1886 and subsequently twice restored. This organ gives invaluable insight into the opportunities and restrictions which such instruments imposed on the performer. Click here for the specification.
Schedule:
10:30–12:30 St Botolph’s
12:30 lunch break (food not provided) and short walk to St George’s
13:15–15:15 St George’s
What to prepare:
One piece for each instrument by a composer from the time and country of each organ. Here are some examples:
St Botolph’s: John Blow, Henry Purcell, William Croft, John Reading, Maurice Greene, John James, Handel, John Stanley, Thomas Roseingrave, William Boyce, John Keeble, Henry Heron, William Walond, Thomas Arne, William Russell, Samuel Wesley
St George’s: Rheinberger, Reger, Karg-Elert
What the class will cover
- Technique: pedalling, touch, fingering, adapting to the dimensions of the keys and pedalboard, maintaining a good posture at an awkward console
- Registration: choosing stops ‘in the style’, and blending different registers to imitate alternative styles (i.e. romantic sounds on a baroque organ)
- Performance: incorporating the acoustic of the room into your performance, dealing with performance anxiety at an instrument foreign to one’s own.