Secrets of Organ Playing Week 50 – Wachet auf BWV 645 – J.S. Bach

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme is a chorale which occurs in the eponymous Cantata BWV 140. It is reworked here as the first of six different chorale preludes comprising a set better known as the Schübler Chorales which were written for two manuals and pedals and which Bach published around 1747/8. The fact that Bach went to the trouble of having these engraved show that he considered them as significant compositions of his. In effect, this work is a trio.: the chorale is in the tenor register, played by the left hand with an accompaniment in the right hand and pedals.

The organ I am playing upon was built by the Australian organ builder, Charles Richardson in 1912. Its specification with an abundance of unison registers is ideal for this music. The swell pedal is an old-fashioned level swell which is hitched down at the right, not unlike what was found on 19th century French organs. The specification is typical of the Edwardian period where upperwork was suppressed and unison registers were more prominent.

The organ I am playing is a French Canadian instrument by Létourneau op 22 and built in 1989. It is currently located in my old Jesuit school chapel, St Aloysius College. The organ was originally located in St Joseph’s Basilica, Edmonton, Canada before it was sold to St Aloysius. It was a perfect fit, with only 6 inches from the top of the instrument to the chapel ceiling. In style, it is technically German but serves classical French music well.