Jonhann Schneider, Trio "Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir" | Secrets of Organ Playing Contest, Week 61

This is my entry for the Secrets of Organ Playing Contest, Week 61. This time I play a Trio by Johann Schneider, a pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Unlike Schneider's Trio in a minor, this Trio is actually a choral prelude, as it is based on the melody of "Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir. The choral melody is played with the right had, set against a lively almost virtuosic part for the left hand. A curious detail of this composition is that the choral melody is played twice, the second time an octave lower than the first time. As far as I understand the (german) text of the choral, it is not directly related to the text. Perhaps Schneider wanted to show of his mastery of counterpoint. Writing two melodies in a way that they can change place vertically (the upper voice becoming the lower voice) without violating voice leading rules is called double counterpoint and is more difficult than 'normal' counterpoint. This is only a guess of course. What I do know is that it is a fun piece to play. And good training for the left hand. It is in compositions like this one, that I have a small advantage in being left handed.

I published this piece 4 years ago. Revisiting older scores turns out to be a good thing to do. While playing through this score I spotted three errors in the score. Playing a score before publishing it, is my way of proofreading. It obviously is not failsafe as I did not see these errors four years ago.

The recording was done with the Hauptwerk software and the sampleset, made by Sonus Paradisi, of the Klapmayer organ in the St. Nikolai church in Altenbruch (http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/germany/klapmeyer-organ-altenbruch.html).

Having to play the choral melody an octave lower as well, is a challenge for registration. There are not many organs with a stop that is suitable as solo for both versions of the choral melody. The Krumhorn oif the Schnitger organ in Steikirchen was the one I used four years ago. The Kromhorn of the Klaomeyer organ in Altenbruch turns out to be another suitable stop.

This sample set turns out (for me) to be very suitable for trio playing. It has a crisp, wonderfully stimulating sound and a lot of possible combinations. I am tempted to finally try to learn one Bach's Triosonatas. Wish me luck...

Score: http://partitura.org/index.php/johann-schneider-trio-mein-gott-das-ganze-herze-bring-ich-dir/

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