JEUX

Pages devoted to my favorite music, realized for MIDI with the JEUX SoundFont. These files assume you have loaded the latest version of the JEUX SoundFont in user bank 42 - if not, the results will be very strange indeed!

- John W. McCoy

Return to JEUX home page.

French Organ Music

• François Couperin, Mass for the Parishes (1690, "Messe à l'usage ordinaire des Paroisses, pour les Festes Solemnelles") - I offer these realizations (ZIP file) with some trepidation, as the interpretation of this masterpiece, though written by a young upstart in his 20's, would benefit from a lifetime of study. There are, besides, many stylistic questions that are difficult to answer three centuries later.
  1. Kyrie 1, Plain-chant en taille
  2. Kyrie 2, Fugue sur les jeux d'anches
  3. Kyrie 3, Récit de cromorne
  4. Kyrie 4, Dialogue sur la trompette et cromorne
  5. Kyrie 5, Plain-chant
  6. Gloria 1, Plein jeu
  7. Gloria 2, Little fugue on the cromorne
  8. Gloria 3, Duet on the tierces
  9. Gloria 4, Dialogue
  10. Gloria 5, Trio
  11. Gloria 6, Tierce en taille
  12. Gloria 7, Dialogue on the voix humaine
  13. Gloria 8, Trio dialogue
  14. Gloria 9, Dialogue on the grands jeux
  15. Offertoire (realization uses an 18th Century tuning in the middle section, and "tremblement fort")
  16. Sanctus 1, Plainchant in canon
  17. Sanctus 2, Récit de cornet
  18. Benedictus, Cromorne en taille
  19. Agnus Dei 1, Plainchant alternately en basse and en taille
  20. Agnus Dei 2, Dialogue
  21. Deo Gratias, Petit plein jeu
• François Couperin, Mass for the Convents (1690, "Messe pour les Convents de Religieux et Religieuses") - With the same modesty, the 21 movements have been realized (ZIP file). In general, the Mass for the Convents is perhaps less showy and more introspective in character than the Mass for the Parishes. I find it impossible to decide which one I like best, but this one uses some unusual registrations.
  1. Kyrie 1, Plein Jeu
  2. Kyrie 2, Fugue on the Trompette
  3. Kyrie 3, Récit de cromorne
  4. Kyrie 4, Trio, Cromorne et Basse de Tierce
  5. Kyrie 5, Dialogue between the Trompette of the Grand Clavier and the Montre, Bourdon and Nazard of the Positif
  6. Gloria 1, Plein jeu
  7. Gloria 2, Little fugue on the cromorne
  8. Gloria 3, Duet on the tierces
  9. Gloria 4, Basse de Trompette
  10. Gloria 5, Cromorne sur la Taille
  11. Gloria 6, Dialogue on the voix humaine
  12. Gloria 7, Trio, Tierce et basse de Trompette
  13. Gloria 8, Récit de Tierce
  14. Gloria 9, Dialogue on the grands jeux
  15. Offertoire on the grands jeux
  16. Sanctus 1, Plein Jeu
  17. Sanctus 2, Récit de cornet
  18. Benedictus, Tierce en taille
  19. Agnus Dei 1, Plein Jeu
  20. Agnus Dei 2, Dialogue on the grands jeux
  21. Deo Gratias, Petit plein jeu
• Jean-Henri D'Anglebert, 5 Fugues and Quatuor
• Jean-François Dandrieu, Premier Livre de Pièces d'Orgue (1739) -- The whole book is now available in MIDI files, so it has its own page! Dandrieu also left us a volume of Noëls and other pieces for organ, see below. One of the "other" pieces that is not a Noël is a fine set of variations, the Chanson de St. Jacques, another example of the seemingly inexhaustible legacy of ancient French melodies.
• Clérambault: "Basse et Dessus de Trompette"
• Marchand: "Basse de Trompette"
• Franck:
  • "Fantaisie" in C, Opus 16
  • "Pastorale", Opus 19 (realization revised July, 2000)
  • "Final", Opus 21
  • "Chorale No. 3" (A minor)
• Saint-Saëns: Three Rhapsodies on Breton Melodies, Opus 7: "Rhapsodie No. 1", "Rhapsodie No. 2", "Rhapsodie No. 3"
• Saint-Saëns: Cyprès et Lauriers, Op. 156: First movement is for organ solo, "Cyprès" An unusual work, Cyprès et Lauriers is a memorial for the casualties of World War I. The first movement, for solo organ, is outstanding. The second movement requires orchestra along with the organ, also a very fine piece, but I don't yet have the full score and the soundfont resources to do it justice.
• Saint-Saëns: Preludes and Fugues: Perhaps the reason Landowska lacked enthusiasm for Saint-Saëns' music was that he was too cheerful to plumb the depths of melancholy as Bach had done. Nevertheless, these Preludes and Fugues are an interesting collection. They explore different moods, sometimes playful, sometimes bucolic, sometimes grand and virtuostic. Can you find the notes B-A-C-H discretely hidden in one of the fugues? Op. 99, No. 1, E Major, Op. 99, No. 2, B Major, Op. 99, No. 3, E-flat Major, Op. 109, No. 1, D Minor, Op. 109, No. 2, G Major, Op. 109, No. 3, C Major
• Messaien: Two movements from "La nativité du Seigneur", "Anges" (with obvious depiction of fluttering wings), and "Mages" (the Magi - unless I am greatly mistaken, this is music to ride camels by)
• A Garland of Noëls - The organ nöel has remained popular longer than any other French organ music of its time. The Daquin collection, in particular, shows the form at its best. Each is based on a carol, and the names of these are known in many cases. They are usually composed as a series of variations or diminutions, often with distinct references to folk idioms.
  • Dandrieu
    • Tous les Bourgeois de Chatres
    • Puer nobis nascitur
  • Daquin - the Twelve Noëls
    1. (sur les jeux d'anches, sans tremblant)
    2. (en dialogue, duo, et trio)
    3. (en musette, en dialogue, et en trio)
    4. (en duo sur les jeux d'anches, sans tremblant)
    5. (en duo)
    6. (sur les jeux d'anches sans tremblant, et en duo)
    7. (en trio et en dialogue)
    8. (Noël Etranger, sur les jeux d'anches sans tremblant, et en duo)
    9. (sur les flutes)
    10. (grand jeu et duo)
    11. (en récit en taille)
    12. (Noël Suisse, grand jeu et duo)
  • Balbastre
    • Joseph est bien marié
  • Lebègue
    • Or nous dites Marie

German Organ Music

• Buxtehude
  • BuxWV 137, Prelude, Fugue, and Ciacona
  • BuxWV 139, Prelude and Fugue in d
  • BuxWV 145, Prelude in F
  • BuxWV 156, Toccata in F
  • BuxWV 157, Toccata in F
  • BuxWV 161, Passacaglia in d
  • BuxWV 171, Canzonetta in G
  • BuxWV 174, Gigue Fugue in G
  • BuxWV 184, "Ein feste Burg"
  • BuxWV 220, "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen"
  • BuxWV 223, "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern"
• Pachelbel
  • Chorale Variations, "Alle Menschen müssen sterben"
  • "An Wasserflüssen Babylon"
  • "Von Himmel hoch"
  • "Allein Gott"
  • "Aria Sebaldina"
  • "Ciacona"
  • "Fantasia, G Minor"
  • "Prelude, D Minor"
  • "Komm Gott Schöpfer"
  • "Nun lob mein Seel"
  • "O Lamm Gottes"
• Johann Sebastian Bach
  • The Orgelbüchlein - Another labor of love, we are attempting to realize the 46 chorales, and will release them a few at a time.
  • "In Dulci Jubilo" (BWV 751, possibly not by Bach, but still a good piece to illustrate the use of the Zimbelstern!)
  • Prelude and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 539, "Fiddle Fugue")
  • Prelude and Fugue in F Major (BWV 540, "Toccata and Fugue") - Though the prelude is often treated as a showpiece and the fugue consequently ignored, they are really an inseparable pair. The link between them is the subject of thanksgiving. I am well aware of the harm done to the understanding of Bach's music by commentators who proclaimed everything ever written by Bach to be a prayer, but in this case, there is something to this idea. At first sight, the prelude looks like a musette, hence our opening registration. The rhythmic form is something like a passepied, until the sharp chords appear on the main manual. Listening to the piece at just the right moment, I heard the unmistakable sound of triumph, or more exactly, of exultation and vindication. The prelude reminds me very much of some of the psalms and especially of the Song of Hannah (I Samuel 2). The interludes of the musette/passepied motif seem to recount some of the details, but the Hauptwerk or Grand Orgue comes back and fairly crows, "I won!" Having got that out of our system, we can then settle down to savor the humble prayer of thanks that follows. If you think this interpretation far-fetched, consider how easy it would be to turn this prelude and fugue into the opening of a cantata with exactly such a text.
  • Prelude and Fugue in B Minor (BWV 544, "Great", pro organo pleno)
  • Prelude and Fugue in C Major (BWV 545, Weimar, in organo pleno)
  • Prelude and Fugue in C Major (BWV 547, Leipzig) - To me, the Prelude is closely related to the whole genus of keyboard trumpet-call music, especially Dandrieu's "Duo en Cors de Chasse sur la Trompette". I think it sounds just right on the Trompette, and the Fugue carries on the general exuberance with a combination of Clairon, Fagotto, and principals. The Fugue is played vigorously but broadly (observing the cut-time marking), with long flowing lines. There are no breaks in the action, so the only change of registration is the introduction in the second half of a strong pedal with the theme in augmentation. I have heard BWV 547 played entirely on full organ, making the Prelude extremely ponderous and necessitating much slower tempi. Here, as in many other of Bach's works, the lighter approach seems better.
  • Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (BWV 548, "Wedge Fugue") - A typical example of Bach's suave E Minor style, the Prelude is full of arabesques and syncopations. Registration uses the string tones that were becoming popular at that time. The Fugue is very much a concertante piece; even in some of the fugal sections, it is the ensemble that matters, rather than the strict progression of subject and countersubject. Some of the motifs of the Prelude seem to have their answers in the Fugue. The registration attempts to highlight the different groups of thematic material by relieving the principal sound with strings, reeds, and mixtures. This Prelude and Fugue make a stunning pair.
  • The Leipzig Chorales - These are the excellent MIDI sequences of Martin Robinson, reorchestrated for the JEUX soundfont. This process involved some cutting and pasting, but leaves the fine interpretations of these pieces pretty much untouched. By my count, these are 18 preludes on 12 chorales.
    • BWV 651 Fantasia super "Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott"
    • BWV 652 "Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott"
    • BWV 653 "An Wasserflüssen Babylon"
    • BWV 654 "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele"
    • BWV 655 Trio super "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend"
    • BWV 656 "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig"
    • BWV 657 "Nun danket alle Gott"
    • BWV 658 "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen"
    • BWV 659 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland"
    • BWV 660 Trio super "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland"
    • BWV 661 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland"
    • BWV 662 "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr"
    • BWV 663 "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr"
    • BWV 664 Trio super "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr"
    • BWV 665 "Jesus Christus, unser Heiland"
    • BWV 666 "Jesus Christus, unser Heiland" (alio modo)
    • BWV 667 "Komm Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist"
    • BWV 668 "Vor deinen Thron tret ich"
• Johann Gottfried Walther
  • "Christus des is mein Leben"
  • "Nun bitten wir"
• Anonymous: "Es is das Heil uns kommen hir" - No matter who wrote it, a very fine work that should be in every church organist's repertoire
• Johannes Weck
  • "Spanish Dance"
  • "Tanz der schwarz Knab"
• Handel Organ Concertos: Handel's music is extremely Italianate, but it is also extremely English. He quickly figured out that "what the English really want is music they can beat time to". Our realizations of his organ concertos use a group of stops that attempt to simulate the resources of a 17th-18th Century English organ with two manuals and fairly modest resources. A few of the organs had rudimentary pedals (pulldowns, most likely), and the B-flat concerto (Opus 7, No. 1) has a distinct pedal part. The actual organs used by Handel to perform these pieces are long since gone (lost in a fire, in once case), and there has been a great deal of speculation about them. It is very likely Handel would have had a tierce mixture on the main manual, probably a couple of reed stops as well. The realizations require the  Hpschd  SoundFont in bank 40, plus your default General Midi font for the orchestral parts. I used my own reworking of the Chaos 4MB GM font. You will probably want to tinker with the initial volume of the orchestral parts to achieve the best balance in your own MIDI environment. In the slow movement of the B-flat concerto Opus 7, No. 1, I use muted strings (GM "String Ensemble 2"), which may need additional volume adjustments. In realizing these concertos, I improvised the cadenzas and missing movements indicated by Handel as "ad libitum", not at the keyboard, but "at the mouse". Thus, the little Sicilienne of Opus 7, No. 2 has never been published in any form except the present MIDI file, and has never been seen in normal musical notation.
  • Opus 7, No. 1, B-flat Major
  • Opus 7, No. 2, A Major (slow movement ad libitum, here improvised at the mouse)

Dutch Organ Music

• Antonie van Noordt: Psalm 24

Italian Organ Music

• Michaelangelo Rossi - Italian organs are noteworthy especially in the composition of the ripieno. The higher ranks break back often, to prevent shrillness. The bass is not muddy, and the treble is still pleasing. I had these pieces in mind when I constructed the Ripieno I of the Grand Orgue and Positif of the JEUX SoundFont. The effect is different from the Plein Jeu, which has fewer high-pitched ranks in the bass, and which breaks back in different places.
  • Toccata Sesta
  • Toccata Settima
• Frescobaldi: "Aria detto Balletto"

Spanish Organ Music

• Cabanilles The music of this undisputed master of the Spanish Baroque is nearly beyond description. Above all, it presents formidable difficulties in performance. Not infrequently, each hand has to play two parts that chase each other in canon. Typically, the voices are in different meters unrelated to the bar lines, and sometimes in different keys. When a sequence threatens to go to high or too low, Cabanilles makes it leap to a new octave in the middle of a phrase. Accidentals are treated casually, it seems, or is this done purposefully, to draw out the chromatic possibilities of the old church modes? Unlike his contemporaries elsewhere in Europe, Cabanilles stays within the harmonic and formal vocabulary of the Renaissance, exploiting the modes in surprising ways. Parts may enter in unexpected relationships, canons may be at the unison or at various other intervals. "Fugues" usually turn out to be strict canons at the 5th or 4th. The disregard of bar lines may be almost total; in one of the pieces included here, the music is clearly in 6 for pages at a time, while the time signature is in 4. Many pieces are written for "divided stops", so that a different registration is obtained for the notes above middle C. Most of the time, the requirements of the music itself point to a particular combination that brings out the solo line in these pieces, and that frequently turns out to mean that the left hand needs to be at 4' or even 2' pitch. Some authorities credit Cabanilles with the invention of "continuous music", because of the way he gradually transforms his themes, without breaking his pieces into distinct sections. His sense of architecture and motivic development are surely remarkable, and these pieces deserve a wider hearing.
  • "Tiento de batalla 8o tono"
  • "Tiento de falsas 4o tono"
  • "Tiento de 4o tono lleno"
  • "Pange Lingua"
  • "Gaitilla de 5o tono" The solo part is in the left hand, written for divided stops, so we chose a high reed, in imitation of the bagpipe still known as "gaitilla".
  • "Gallardas I, 1o tono" Commentators have noted that the gallardas of Cabanilles are in duple time, while the rest of Europe understood a galliard to be a dance in triple meter. Did he not know the difference, or was there actually another dance of the same name? These are exquisite pieces.
  • "Gallardos III, 4o tono"
  • "Tiento III ple,, 3o tono" It is tempting to suppose that "ple" is actually an abbreviation for "pleno" (indicated as "lleno" in modern editions). Can someone confirm this for me?
  • "Tiento IV de dos baixos, 7o tono" That is, for two bass parts, indicating the left hand is to have a solo registration. The right hand, meanwhile, has two soprano parts that are almost as interesting as the basses.
  • "Tiento VI de contras, 1o tono" In the last century, contras were from Guatemala; we heard about the Iran-Contra affair for many months on the evening news. In 17th Century Spain, the contras were the big principal pipes for the pedals, which could be at 16' or 8' pitch. Using our Open Diapason 16' stop, this turns out to be a magnificent piece.
  • "Tiento XVI 5o tono, por B cuadrado" Yes, that's B squared! The term derives from the square shape of the natural sign, and refers to the B-natural that appears in the Renaissance harmonic progression also known as Passamezzo Moderno. In this case, however, if the harmonic progression of the Passamezzo Moderno is present, I haven't been able to spot it, and besides the piece is in the wrong key. Perhaps someone with better musicological credentials than mine can elucidate.
  • "Tiento XXI 6o tono de batalla, partido de man derecha" Not much of a battle, except for trumpet motifs, but a splendid opportunity to explore the trumpet stops. As the piece is written for divided stops, it is clear the right hand needs a distinct registration. Moreover, we found the piece didn't sound well unless the left hand has a strong 4' reed (otherwise too muddy due to unusually low tessitura, and the interplay between the parts doesn't work), but lacked a strong bottom unless the 8' trumpet was added. The strength of this combination in turn dictates that the right hand needs a very strong trumpet.

Liszt (in a class by himself)

• "Angelus"
• "Ave Maria von Arcadelt"
• "Ad Nos, Ad Salutarem Undam"One of the longest and noisiest pieces of the organ repertoire, the score running to about 50 pages. As in all of Liszt's organ works, there are numerous problems in the score, and several versions to choose from. Our realization is VERY loud, so you may want to preview the last 40 bars or so with the volume turned way down, to be sure your speakers will survive! Liszt left essentially no registration instructions beyond dynamic markings, so we have been guided by the registration practices of Franck and his contemporaries, whom Liszt admired. We tackled this piece to find out if it could be done, with the result that several new stops were developed along the way.

Bonbons, Encores, Chestnuts, Transcriptions, and Oddities

• Two Carillons
  • Handel: Carillon
  • Dandrieu: Carillon, ou Cloches
• Program Music by Kerll (or possibly not!)
  • "The Battle" (long thought to be the work of Cabanilles, and here realized for "Spanish" organ)
  • "The Styrian Shepherd" (attributed to Kerll by at least one editor, this piece might be characterized as variations on a yodel - the traditional Styrian instrument was a horn, here taken to be a gemshorn)
• Post-Baroque Music, Transcriptions from the Romantic Era, and other entertainments. Transcriptions from the operatic and symphonic repertoire were standard fare for organ concerts a hundred years ago, even during church services. In most cases, the organist would have used the piano reductions and concert transcriptions that were fashionable then. As luck would have it, a friend of mine fell heir to a large collection of such music, and it proved irresistible!
  • Tchaikowski: Hamlet Fantasy-Overture - This one is big! 100 KB Midi file, lasts almost 18 minutes. I used a piano transcription from about 1900, and I corrected the wrong notes against Leonard Bernstein's recording. Notice how tastefully the organ setting omits all the unnecessary crashing and banging around that is present in the orchestral score. The treatment of Hamlet is eccentric; we discover that Ophelia is 100% Russian.
  • Sibelius: Valse Triste
  • Weil: Tango from the "Three-Penny Opera"
  • Widor: Toccata from Organ Symphony No. 5
  • Rossini: "Cujus Animam" from the Stabat Mater, Lizst transcription
  • Weber: "Turandot" (overture to the opera, based on a Chinese melody and later metamorphosed by Hindemith) Our registration is a little odd: the piano reduction was a bit too heavy in the left hand, so we used the 8' reeds and principals of the positif and supplemented the right hand with the Nonade IV transposed down an octave. By itself, the Nonade sounds terrible (contains fifth, third, seventh, and ninth mutation intervals), but when added to the reeds produces almost unheard-of brilliance. This is the same principle used in the construction of the Grand Jeu, but taken several levels beyond.
  • Meyerbeer: "Marche du Sacre" from "Le Prophète"
  • Wagner: "Siegfried's Rhein Journey" "Wagner's music isn't as bad as it sounds." - Mark Twain
  • Wagner: "Magic Fire" (concert transcription by Franz Bendel from Die Walküre, publ. 1895)
  • Wagner: "Ride of the Valkyries" (arrangement by Otto Singer from Die Walküre, publ. 1905)
  • Wagner: Prelude to "Lohengrin" (arrangement by Otto Singer, publ. 1905)
  • Wagner: "Spinning Song" (transcribed by Liszt, from The Flying Dutchman)
  • Saint-Saëns: "Le Rouet d'Omphale" (Omphale's Spinning-Wheel, piano reduction of the composer)
  • Saint-Saëns: "La Jeunesse d'Hercule" Op. 50. (The Boyhood of Hercules, please fasten your seatbelts! I.e., beware of speaker overload, there are some very loud sections!)
  • Saint-Saëns: "Phaëton" Op. 39, symphonic poem
  • Saint-Saëns: "Africa", fantasy for piano and orchestra Op. 89, piano reduction by the composer. North Africa, that is! A virtuostic evocation ending with an exotic procession and joyous tumult.
  • Lalo: "Le Roi d'Ys" (overture to the opera, a sort of French riposte to Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde")
  • Bizet: "Patrie" (dramatic overture)
  • W. Winterling: "Funeral March for Kaiser Wilhelm I" (Opus 13) -- the thought of giving the Kaiser a big send-off might have given much satisfaction to French audiences of a certain generation!
  • Nicolai: "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (Overture)
  • Chabrier: "España" (The music of Spain was all the rage in France in the late 19th Century. Everyone tried his hand at writing exotic dances, whether they had ever been to Spain or not!)
  • Massenet: Ballet music from Le Cid: 1.Castillane 2.Andalouse 3.Aragonaise 4.Aubade 5.Catalane 6.Madrilene 7.Navarraise

Return to JEUX home page.