24 OCT | Tuesday 9.30 pm
Church of São Martinho

Organ and alphorn
Carlo Torlontano, alphorn
Francesco di Lernia, organ

Rainer Bartesch lives in Munich. He is a German horn player, alphorn player and film composer. He composes concertante music and music theatre works and is a specialist for music of outside European cultures. Silent Mountains is the first of six works for alphorn and organ, each of which tries to approach a particular energy, condition or mood characteristic of alpine mountain scenery.

Anton Zimmermann was a Silesian-born composer and contemporary of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Zimmermann spent most of his career in Bratislava, then capital of Hungary, where he worked as a composer, violinist, conductor, and artist manager. Sinfonia Pastoritia in G Major is one of those pioneering works of the second half of the 18th century which underwent a revival in the classical period and which contributed to forming the pastorally oriented symphonic work of classicism.

The well-known partita Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan of Johann Pachelbel depicts a beautiful image of the musical potentialities which Baroque composers possessed.

The manualiter choral Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott BWV 721 is based on the 1524 chorale text of Psalm 51, though its authenticity as originating with Bach has been questioned. The chorale melody, heard at the top of the texture, is set against a backdrop of subdued, pulsating quavers that project a sense of gravitas. The solemn feel is balanced by Bach’s harmonic language, which incorporates certain unexpected turns that suggest hope. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig is taken from an extremely exciting discovery from 1985, a manuscript anthology of chorale preludes, compiled by Johann Gottfried Neumeister in the last decade of the 18th century and identified as containing over 30 previously unknown chorale preludes dating from Bach’s formative years.

Nicola Hansalik Samale is a very talented conductor and composer. In 2003 he composed for Carlo Torlontano Walpurgisnacht for alphorn and orchestra. Meditation II is a recent composition whose organ arrangement for organ and alphorn was made by Francesco di Lernia. Samale has also completed symphonies by Bruckner and Mahler, and recently the “Samale Version” of Bruckner’s Symphony No 9 was recorded by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.

At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the tweentieth century, Marco Enrico Bossi was undoubtedly the most important composer of organ music in Italy. His fame was widespread, reaching from Europe even to the USA where he, during the same period as Marcel Dupré, scored triumphs with his concert tours. He also played an important role in organ building and the renewal of church music by his work in the field of the Riforma Ceciliana. Bossi’s musical oeuvre is large. In his compositions, such as the Berceuse op. 142 n. 1 Dors mon enfant one can hear the influence of great composers such as Franck and Vierne.

Leopold Mozart wrote a number of works that involved the use of instruments less usually found in the orchestra. He had the opportunity to hear an Alphorn and was impressed by the magnificence of the instrument, deciding to include it as soloist in his Sinfonia Pastorella. This is the very first piece of classical music dedicated to the Alphorn and, thanks to the audacity of Leopold Mozart, we now have the chance to listen to the Alphorn in a concert hall.

Rainer Bartesch (1964)

¬ Silent Mountains, for alphorn and organ

Anton Zimmermann (1741-1781)

¬ Sinfonia pastoral for alphorn and organ
› Introduzione – Adagio
› Presto

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

¬ Chorale partita «Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan»

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

¬ Chorale prelude «Erbam dich nein, o Herre Gott», BWV 721

¬ Chorale prelude «O Lamm Gottes unschuldig», BWW 1095

Nicola Hansalik Samale (1941)

¬ Meditation II for alphorn and organ

Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925)

¬ «Dors, mon enfant» Op. 142 nº 1

Tradicional
¬ Melodia escocesa
(arranged for alphorn and organ by Walter Gleissner)

Leopold Mozart (1719-1787)

¬ Sinfonia pastoral o for alphorn and organ
› Allegro moderato
› Andante
› Presto

Participants

Notes about the organ

Church of São Martinho, Funchal

The oldest documental reference it has been possible to find concerning the existence of a pipe organ at the parish church of São Martinho goes back to 1806. According to a record set down by the treasurer of the Confraria de Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Fraternity of Our Lady of the Rosary), an organist was contracted in 1806 to tune the organ, and there are other later records referring to maintenance work.

In the record of expenditure for the year 1862, to be found in the Accounts Book (1834-1877), the vicar José Rodrigues de Almada noted down the sum of 200,000 réis for payment of the new organ, specifying that 150,000 réis were contributed by the Benefice of the church; 40,000 réis was credited from the amount paid for the old organ and 10,000 réis was donated, thus making up the real price of the instrument.

From this source it has proved impossible to determine the conditions for its transport, or where it was acquired. What is certain is that in 1863 the organ was already in this church, for that year Father João G. de Noronha was contracted to tune the said instrument, receiving 2,000 réis for his work.

With the transfer of the parish to the newly consecrated church in 1918, the organ was then taken there, where it continued to function until 1934. According to the records found in the Accounts Book (1877-1954), the organ underwent successive maintenance works, the most expensive being in 1879 (a payment of 38,000 réis to Nuno Rodrigues) and, especially, in 1916, because it was very out of tune and had a number of technical problems.

As an instrument to accompany and enhance divine worship, the organ of the church of São Martinho will have participated in various solemnities, and in the year 1917 there is a record in the Accounts Book of receipt of 10.700 réis “arising from the contribution of the organ to the festivities”.

Manual (GG, AA, C-f´´´)
Stop Diapason Bass (GG-b)
Stop Diapason Treble (c´-f´´´)
Principal
Flute
Dulciana