Reger/ Wetzel - Organ Works 6

The music of Max Reger has a special position in organ repertoire, and he is regarded by many as the greatest German composer of organ music since Bach. A Catholic himself, he nevertheless drew on Lutheran tradition and the rich store of chorales, the inspiration for chorale preludes, chorale fantasias and other works. The esteem in which his organ compositions were held even in his own time owed much to the advocacy of Karl Straube, also a pupil of Riemann and from 1902 organist at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Reger wrote his Chorale Fantasia on 'Alle Menschen müssen sterben', Op. 52, No. 1, (All men must die) in 1900, dedicating it to Julius Smend, then Professor of Theology at the University of Strasbourg, a pioneer in the study of earlier Lutheran music and a leading figure in research into the use of music in the Protestant liturgy. With an Introduction marked at first Assai agitato e molto espressivo (vivace), there is almost at once a reminder of Bach's Durch Adams Fall (Through Adam's fall), with the characteristic interval of a descending seventh, an aural representation of the Fall of Adam that is to recur. The characteristically dense chromatic figuration leads to the chorale melody, the score including the words of the first verse. The melody itself is shared by manuals and pedals, appearing first in the tenor register, then the bass, continuing in the soprano, followed by the pedals again and completed in the tenor. A dramatic interlude leads to more elaborate figuration with the third verse of the chorale, Jesus ist für mich gestorben (Jesus died for me), marked pppp and again shared by varying registers, manuals and pedals. A shorter episode is followed by a version of the melody with the words of the sixth verse superscribed, O Jerusalem, du schöne, ach wie helle glanzest du! (O Jerusalem, thou beautiful, how bright thou shinest!). The intervening episode again leads to a dramatic dynamic climax before the chorale, with the words of the seventh verse, Ach, ich habe schon erblicket (Ah, I have often seen this great glory), is heard in left-hand octaves, amid elaborate surrounding figuration. The fantasia mounts to a climax for the final words 'mit der goldnen Ehrenkrone steh ich' (with the golden crown of glory I stand), with a concluding apotheosis.