Pipe Organ Recital 2022
St. James Memorial Episcopal Church located at 112 East Main Street in Titusville, PA is pleased to announce this special concert event to he held on Saturday, December 10th at 2:00 PM featuring Mr. Logan Hamilton, organist. Mr. Hamilton originally from the Titusville Area will be performing a series of selections for the pipe organ. Also featured is Helyn Dahle, St. James Church Organist.
The event will also celebrate the ministry of Vicar Martha Ishman who will be retiring in January 2023.
A reception will follow the recital in the Church Parish Hall. The event is free to the public.
The event will also celebrate the ministry of Vicar Martha Ishman who will be retiring in January 2023.
A reception will follow the recital in the Church Parish Hall. The event is free to the public.
Mr. Logan Hamilton
Logan Hamilton
Logan calls northwestern Pennsylvania home where he has served as the organist for St. James Memorial Episcopal Church while attending high school. He then earned his Bachelors of Music degree from Grove City College. During his time at Grove City, he was the organist at Grace United Methodist Church as well as the assistant to the college organist at Grove City College. Afterwards, he traveled to Seattle, WA to earn his Master’s in Organ Performance at the University of Washington. He also served as the organist at University Lutheran Church during his time in Seattle where he ministered to the congregation in weekly services and organized various recitals and concerts for the enrichment of the University District community. He is currently in his third year of his Doctor of Music and Arts degree in Church Music, studying at the University of Kansas. He also works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at KU where he accompanies the Bales Chorale, supervises the Undergrad Studio, and teaches private lessons to non-major students interested in organ. Logan currently serves as the Associate Music Director at Resurrection Methodist Brookside Church in Kansas City, Missouri.
Program Selections
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 Johann Sebastian Bach
The unusual pairing of BWV 542 brings together contrasting periods of Bach’s life in one work. The Fantasia consists of two main ideas; a gnarly, free section that builds drama through continual suspension and release, juxtaposed against a quieter, contrapuntal texture. Both of these ideas have a vocal quality, as the bombastic sections act as a solo recitative describing the violent action in an opera, with the quieter section sung by a choir, having a much more reflective role in the drama. The Fugue is simpler in its harmonic language and is among Bach’s finest examples of an instrumental fugue. With the Fantasy showcasing dense harmonic writing and intricate vocal qualities, it can be assumed that it was written much later in Bach’s life, most likely during his time in Leipzig as the Cantor for the Thomaskichke. Contrasting the Fantasy, the Fugue with its youthful, sanguine like nature, was composed much earlier in Bach’s life, most likely when he improvised the fugue for an audition for the organist position at the St. Jacobi in Hamburg. Though the two pieces occupy two different points of Bach’s timeline, they are bound together in one work and compliment each other as a tour de force.
Sonata No. 5 in C major, BWV 529 Johann Sebastian BachI.
I. Allegro
II. Largo
III. Allegro
Around 1727-1730, Bach introduced a new organ genre: the trio sonata. This type of sonata –with two melodic instruments and basso continuo accompaniment had long been a fixture in Baroque chamber music, but the three parts had never been heard before on one instrument. The two melodic instruments are taken by the hands, independent of one another on separate manuals, and the basso continuo part played by the feet on the pedals. These six sonatas are regarded as some of the most challenging pieces in Bach’s works for the organ, as it is believed that he composed these works for his son, Whilelm Friedmann Bach, as pedagogical tools to strengthen his technique as a virtuosic musician. The middle movement, Largo, was discovered to be composed earlier while Bach was the konzertmeister in the court of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar between 1708-1717. He revised this piece to be included in the fifth sonata. It is characterized as a new kind of italianate writing, full of balanced lyricism and energized crescendos through repeated notes and outlined figures. The first Allego is filled with violin-like writing that is reminiscent of the virtuosic language of a Vivaldi concerto. The last movement, Allegro, displays Bach’s contrapuntal genius with fugal writing between the two solo voices.
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 Johann Sebastian Bach
One of Bach’s most reputable pieces for the organ, BWV 582 is a monumental homage to varying compositional styles found in the entirety of the Baroque era in music history. The Passacaglia is introduced over an 8 measure ostinato introduced by the pedal. It’s described as “a painful longing” that announces the forthcoming 21 variations to follow. The variations are grouped in a variety of ways, related by rhythm, texture, and affect. The last variation is a double fugue, using the original 8 measure ostinato as the first subject, with the second subject as the motor driving the piece to its triumphant finish.
Fantasia and Fugue on the name of B-A-C-H (Syncratic version by Jean Guillou) Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Johann Sebastian Bach
As Johann Sebastain Bach was a pinnacle figure during the world’s course of music history, Franz Listz too was a giant force during the 19th century with his virtuosic piano technique, as well as a composer of some of the most incredible repertoire of the romantic era. Liszt was heavily influenced by JS Bach, especially by Bach’s “The Art of Fugue” BWV 1080 in which Bach uses his own name spelled out as the fugal subject transcribed from B-A-C-H to the notes Bb-A-C-B. Liszt uses this spelling in his own work, centering the entirety of this piece around the four note motive. Liszt would later revise the piece for organ later in life, as well as transcribe a piano version in 1870. In 1977, notable French organist and composer Jean Guillou (1930-2019) incorporated everything contained in the organ composition and the piano transcription in this 'syncretic' version of the work, without adding anything that was not written by Liszt himself. In the preface of this arrangement, Guillou said that, “It was a pity that the organist should not be able to use the ideas with which Liszt subsequently enriched his own adaptation.”
The unusual pairing of BWV 542 brings together contrasting periods of Bach’s life in one work. The Fantasia consists of two main ideas; a gnarly, free section that builds drama through continual suspension and release, juxtaposed against a quieter, contrapuntal texture. Both of these ideas have a vocal quality, as the bombastic sections act as a solo recitative describing the violent action in an opera, with the quieter section sung by a choir, having a much more reflective role in the drama. The Fugue is simpler in its harmonic language and is among Bach’s finest examples of an instrumental fugue. With the Fantasy showcasing dense harmonic writing and intricate vocal qualities, it can be assumed that it was written much later in Bach’s life, most likely during his time in Leipzig as the Cantor for the Thomaskichke. Contrasting the Fantasy, the Fugue with its youthful, sanguine like nature, was composed much earlier in Bach’s life, most likely when he improvised the fugue for an audition for the organist position at the St. Jacobi in Hamburg. Though the two pieces occupy two different points of Bach’s timeline, they are bound together in one work and compliment each other as a tour de force.
Sonata No. 5 in C major, BWV 529 Johann Sebastian BachI.
I. Allegro
II. Largo
III. Allegro
Around 1727-1730, Bach introduced a new organ genre: the trio sonata. This type of sonata –with two melodic instruments and basso continuo accompaniment had long been a fixture in Baroque chamber music, but the three parts had never been heard before on one instrument. The two melodic instruments are taken by the hands, independent of one another on separate manuals, and the basso continuo part played by the feet on the pedals. These six sonatas are regarded as some of the most challenging pieces in Bach’s works for the organ, as it is believed that he composed these works for his son, Whilelm Friedmann Bach, as pedagogical tools to strengthen his technique as a virtuosic musician. The middle movement, Largo, was discovered to be composed earlier while Bach was the konzertmeister in the court of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar between 1708-1717. He revised this piece to be included in the fifth sonata. It is characterized as a new kind of italianate writing, full of balanced lyricism and energized crescendos through repeated notes and outlined figures. The first Allego is filled with violin-like writing that is reminiscent of the virtuosic language of a Vivaldi concerto. The last movement, Allegro, displays Bach’s contrapuntal genius with fugal writing between the two solo voices.
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 Johann Sebastian Bach
One of Bach’s most reputable pieces for the organ, BWV 582 is a monumental homage to varying compositional styles found in the entirety of the Baroque era in music history. The Passacaglia is introduced over an 8 measure ostinato introduced by the pedal. It’s described as “a painful longing” that announces the forthcoming 21 variations to follow. The variations are grouped in a variety of ways, related by rhythm, texture, and affect. The last variation is a double fugue, using the original 8 measure ostinato as the first subject, with the second subject as the motor driving the piece to its triumphant finish.
Fantasia and Fugue on the name of B-A-C-H (Syncratic version by Jean Guillou) Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Johann Sebastian Bach
As Johann Sebastain Bach was a pinnacle figure during the world’s course of music history, Franz Listz too was a giant force during the 19th century with his virtuosic piano technique, as well as a composer of some of the most incredible repertoire of the romantic era. Liszt was heavily influenced by JS Bach, especially by Bach’s “The Art of Fugue” BWV 1080 in which Bach uses his own name spelled out as the fugal subject transcribed from B-A-C-H to the notes Bb-A-C-B. Liszt uses this spelling in his own work, centering the entirety of this piece around the four note motive. Liszt would later revise the piece for organ later in life, as well as transcribe a piano version in 1870. In 1977, notable French organist and composer Jean Guillou (1930-2019) incorporated everything contained in the organ composition and the piano transcription in this 'syncretic' version of the work, without adding anything that was not written by Liszt himself. In the preface of this arrangement, Guillou said that, “It was a pity that the organist should not be able to use the ideas with which Liszt subsequently enriched his own adaptation.”
Helyn Dahle
Helyn Dahle
Helyn Dahle (nee Horne) has been the Organist and Choir Director at St. James for the past 6 years. She was born in Oil City and grew up in Titusville where she studied piano with Francis Dowler, Betty Streich and Joan Peebles. Hannah Leckie at Titusville First Presbyterian Church was her first organ teacher. She also studied organ with Robert Rayfield at Indiana University. Helyn learned about directing a choir from the venerable Don Mowrey, whose choirs she accompanied throughout her school career. Helyn has lived in Pittsburgh and in California (San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area). Prior to moving to California with her family, Helyn was the Organist and Choir Director at Wilson United Presbyterian Church in Clairton. In California Helyn worked for almost 30 years on the administrative side of 3 different start-up biotechnology companies. She earned a B.A. from San Diego State University.
Selection: TBA