Joseph Callaerts - Selected Organ Works and Mass for Choir and Organ (EN)
[booklet texts CD Joseph Callaerts - Selected Organ Works and Mass for Choir and Organ - Autumn 2013]
Joris Verdin, organ
Flemish Radio Choir conducted by Johan Duijck
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The recording was made on two Cavaillé-Coll organs: for the organ solos the instrument of choice was that of St Etienne’s church in Caen (F), while the Messe, Graduel et Offertoire was recorded in the chapel of the Jesuit House at Heverlee. The instrument in Caen (III/P, 1885) was inaugurated on 3 March 1885 by Alexandre Guilmant, and is cut out for the major organ pieces by Callaerts. The organ in Heverlee (II/P, 1880) originally belonged to the Jesuit residence of Our Lady of Flanders in Ghent. It is one of the few Cavaillé-Coll organs in Belgium that is intact and in perfect working order, ideally lending itself with its refined sound to choral works with organ accompaniment.
About the programme
Joseph Callaerts (1830-1901) had already been appointed as organist of Antwerp cathedral when he graduated in 1856 in the class of Lemmens at the Brussels conservatoire. In 1867 he became organ teacher at Peter Benoit’s Antwerp Music School (the later conservatory), counting among his pupils Emile Wambach and Jan Blockx. He was a man of his times: he was the driving force in 1890-1891 to replace the old De Volder organ from 1828 by a four-manual instrument by Pierre Schyven. In 1892 he received a decoration in the Order of Leopold.
While Callaerts’s organ works are still played relatively frequently, there are very few recordings of his religious music. This CD proves that Callaerts deserves his place in the pantheon of Flemish-Belgian composers of the nineteenth century, together with Benoit, Lemmens, and Tinel.
Just like the small, young Belgium of this era, the music of Callaerts is somehow located between several greater areas: on the one hand the German sense of structure, compositional seriousness and feeling for counterpoint, on the other hand the French flair for elegant melodies, surprising new sound colours and variations. All these ingredients make for a kind of music with an attractive and personal mix of seriousness and cheerfulness, thoroughness and creativity. Callaerts excelled mostly in shorter character pieces such as the Canzona and the Allegro giocoso, with an apparently uninterrupted stream of inspiration, but he was also perfectly at home in large-scale works such as a sonata or a Mass.
The First Sonata in C minor was published posthumously in 1908 by Schott Frères in Brussels, without a specific dedication. The first movement, Allegro, starts with a vigorous theme in unison, alternating with contagiously rhythmical interludes. There follows a choral-like second theme on the Récit building up towards the development in a chromatic passage that seems to jump into all directions. At that point a game of alternation between both themes starts, now used as imitation material, then again modulating into faraway domains. After a concealed pedal note (well-hidden by all kinds of syncopation) both themes recur in an expanded version, where also the trumpets can sound once more in the chromatic final passage. The Andante cantabile starts in a very simple way, but this is deceptive. After the first measures the melody keeps flowing, but what surrounds it becomes ever more complicated, faster and more colourful. The tonalities develop in an elegant manner to and fro, and the stops of harmonic flute and oboe become more and more interwoven in their interaction of question and answer: a polyphonic texture develops for which the organist could use more hands! The simplicity of the beginning returns slowly but surely, now through the voix humaine stop which responds to the salicional, or – rather unusually – is combined with the voix céleste, eventually rolling on the bourdon solo. Just like the beginning of the sonata the third and last movement Finale also starts with a unison theme, but now in a dancing 6/8 measure. From time to time an almost funfair melody (a royal fanfare) is foregrounded, but then another, more restrained style takes over. The themes are turned inside out, after which, according to the same pattern as the first movement, the starting measures are resumed, developed, expanded and accelerated into a radiant final chord.
The Petite Fantaisie was dedicated to “son ami Alexandre Guilmant, Organiste de la Trinité et de la société des concerts du Conservatoire à Paris”. Like Callaerts, Guilmant was a pupil of Lemmens and since 1871 served as organist at the Trinité, allowing us to date the Petite Fantaisie at any rate from this year on or later. Later Guilmant became organist at the Trocadéro Palace (one of the few organs in France that were used exclusively for concert music) and of the Madeleine church in Paris. This Petite Fantaisie suited him hand in glove, given the title and the contents of the work. Actually the title is misleading: the work is – except for one – the longest in the series of Callaerts’s 24 Pièces d’orgue. Essentially the Petite Fantaisie is a pastorale, recognizable by virtue of its use of the oboe, the imitations of birds, echoes, as well as the typical ornamentation. The structure is simple and well-organized: an Allegretto in minor, a contrasting middle movement in major on the voix céleste and the voix humaine stops (Plus lent), and a recapitulation of the first movement. It looks as if Callaerts wanted to make it perfectly clear, as a kind of homage to the perfect performer, that the piece was a ‘little fantasia’ only for organists of the calibre of Guilmant.
With a determined unison the Allegro Giocoso is struck up. The merry title is emphasized through the diversity of playful modulations, rapid questions and answers as well as clever progressions. The dedication is to the otherwise unknown “Mr R. A. Baxter, of London”.
The Canzona was dedicated by Callaerts ‘to my pupil and friend Eug. Dierckx, choir master and organist of St Andrew’s church, Antwerp.’ For the solo voice Callaerts chose the unusual combination of 8-foot foundation stops with Nazard, which conveys to the whole a fresh baroque effect à la Haendel. That element is even emphasized more by the 6/8 measure, the short imitations and the articulations that are written out painstakingly. When the theme is recapitulated, it is expanded with a little line of parallel thirds.
The succinctness of the three pieces discussed before recurs in Callaerts’s Messe, graduel & offertoire, for mixed choir, soloists and organ. Callaerts composed his opus 4, a simple ‘missa brevis’ in F, in 1865, dedicating it to Jacob J.B. Fuchs, sacristan of St Mary’s church in Oldenburg. The orchestral version of this work is preserved in manuscript in the library of the Antwerp conservatory; only the version with organ has been published. The gradual (Benedicta es tu virgo Maria) and the offertory (Ave Maria gratia plena) bear evidence that Callaerts intended this Mass for a holy day devoted to Mary, the patroness of the cathedral where he served as organist. Most probably the high feast day in question was that of the Immaculate Conception of Mary on 8 December, a dogma instituted in 1854, triggering a wave of Mariolatry.
In this Mass Callaerts, on the basis of his long experience at the organ loft, chooses a voice leading that is harmonically simple, combined with a somewhat more ambitious organ part that imparts rhythm and contrast to the whole. Callaerts always takes into account the liturgical time sequence, alternating efficiently preludes, interludes and postludes for the organ with short solos, and homophonic or polyphonic passages for the choir. Now turned inward and gently elegant, then again dramatic and triumphant, he proves his mettle by masterfully blending voices and organ, colours, strengths and volumes.
The last work of this recording is a festive Scherzo, dedicated to “Monsieur E.d’Evry, Organiste de l’Eglise de l’Oratoire, à Londres”. The combination of a fast-moving pulse of three beats in the bar, sudden changes of time-signature, a charming interlude and virtuoso runs makes for a perfect clincher.
Annelies Focquaert (translation: Joris Duytschaever)
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Track list:
Organ Works:
Caen - Saint Etienne, Cavaillé-Coll, III/P, 1885
Première Sonate en ut-mineur (Deux Sonates pour Orgue - oeuvres posthumes 1908):
1 Allegro (5:58)
2 Andante cantabile (6:34)
3 Finale Allegro (5:41)
4 Petite fantaisie, Pièces pour Orgue - Première Série nr 8, op. 22 (6:41)
5 Allegro Giocoso, Pièces pour Orgue - Deuxième Série nr 8, op. 30 (2:08)
6 Canzona, Pièces pour Orgue - Première Série nr 5, op 21 (2:00)
Messe, Graduel et Offertoire pour quatre voix, avec accompagnement d'Orgue, op. 4 (1867):
Heverlee - Leuven, Jezuïetenhuis, Cavaillé-Coll II/P, 1880
7 Kyrie (3:04)
8 Gloria (3:22)
9 Graduel "Benedicta tu" (2:28)
10 Credo (5:21)
11 Offertoire "Ave Maria" (4:02)
12 Sanctus (1:15)
13 Benedictus (a capella) (2:18)
14 Élévation, Six Morceaux, s.d. (>1908) (3:11)
15 Agnus Dei (4:25)
16 Scherzo, Pièces pour Orgue - Deuxième Série nr 12, op. 31 (6:19)
Recording Caen: November 2000, recording engineer Harry De Winde, recording producer Peter Van Bouwel (VRT)
Recording Heverlee: June 2000, recording engineer Marc Hostyn, recording producer Luc Brewaeys (VRT)
Design: Peter Strauven
Programme notes by Annelies Focquaert, SVM
CD produced by vzw3-4 www.orgue-harmonium.net
with substantial support from
- Het Orgel in Vlaanderen vzw, (OIV) www.orgelinvlaanderen.be
- Studiecentrum for Vlaamse Muziek (SVM) www.svm.be
Order through www.orgue-harmonium.net
Information: www.vlaamsradiokoor.be - www.jorisverdin.com
Organs:
- Caen: www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/france/caense.html
- Heverlee: G. Huybens; ‘Au désir de tout connaisseur’, in: Orgelkunst, jrg. 30, nr. 4, 2007, 191-199.
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Stop lists
CAEN, Saint-Étienne (A. Cavaillé-Coll, 1885)
Grand Orgue
Montre 16
Bourdon 16
Montre 8
Gambe 8
Bourdon 8
Prestant 4
Flûte 4
Quinte 2 2/3
Doublette 2
Cornet V rgs
Plein-jeu VII rgs
Bombarde 16
Trompette 8
Clairon 4
Récit expressif
Quintaton 16
Diapason 8
Flûte traversière 8
Viole de gambe 8
Voix céleste 8
Flûte octaviante 4
Octavin 2
Cornet II-V rgs
Bombarde 16
Trompette 8
Basson-hautbois 8
Clarinette 8
Voix humaine 8
Clairon 4
Positif
Bourdon 16
Principal 8
Cor de nuit 8
Salicional 8
Unda maris 8
Prestant 4
Flûte douce 4
Carillon III rgs
Basson 16
Trompette 8
Cromorne 8
Pédale
Bourdon 32
Contrebasse 16
Soubasse 16
Grosse flûte 8
Violoncelle 8
Flûte 4
Bourdon doux 4
Bombarde 16
Trompette 8
Clairon 4
HEVERLEE, Paters Jezuïeten (A. Cavaillé-Coll, 1880)
Grand Orgue
Bourdon 16
Montre 8
Flûte harmonique 8
Salicional 8
Prestant 4
Plein-jeu harmonique II-III rgs
Récit expressif
Bourdon 8
Viole de gambe 8
Voix céleste 8
Flûte octaviante 4
Trompette 8
Basson-hautbois 8
Voix humaine 8
Pédale
Soubasse 16
Basse 8
Trompette 8