Bach performance practice in the late French Romantic Organ School: a study of Welte organ roll recordings

Thesis

During the nineteenth century, Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard music first received widespread dissemination in France through the pedagogy of Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, who taught the leading French organists of the century, including Charles- Marie Widor and Alexandre Guilmant. Organists in this pedagogical line comprised the French Romantic Organ School, which developed distinct aesthetics and performance techniques in their own compositions based on their ideas of Bach performance practice. These are transmitted in editions, pedagogical guides, personal correspondence, and concert reviews. However, written sources can only give generalities of performance practice. The extremely fine details of timing, articulation, registration, and more can be seen in the medium of organ rolls by the Welte Company of Freiburg im Breisgau, which can not only reproduce performances today that sound identical to what the recording artist heard, but be analysed in extreme detail.

The heart of this study is ten Bach organ rolls from the collection of the Museum für Musikautomaten in Seewen, Switzerland, recorded by leading members of the French Romantic Organ School by the early twentieth century: Marie-Joseph Erb, Joseph Bonnet, and Eugène Gigout. Comparing new analysis of these rolls with Bach performance practice writings of the French Romantic Organ School will trace the development of Bach interpretation in nineteenth-century France from both theoretical and practical perspectives, establish a foundation for modern organists for performing these works on instruments in the Romantic style, and bridge a critical gap in Bach aesthetics studies. Most importantly, it sheds light on previously unknown details of performance practice, which can be applied in performances of the music of the French Romantic Organ School.

Authors: Holman, C

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-00mqym1p7
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: French Romantic Organ School; Johann Sebastian Bach; early recordings; organ rolls; Welte Company; recording analysis
• Subjects: Music; Sound recording industry