Early Romantic organ sonata, composed in 2007

The fragment on which this work is based, written by Felix Mendelssohn, comprises a chorale movement by O head full of blood and wounds as well as an unfinished variation to it, which breaks off after a good 26 bars. There is no certainty that Mendelssohn's fragment is connected with the improvisation that he played in Leipzig's St. Thomas Church on 6 August 1840 and about which Schumann reported: "The conclusion was a fantasy by Mendelssohn. Schumann reported on it as follows: "Mendelssohn concluded with a fantasy (...); it was based on a chorale, I am not mistaken, on the text 'O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden', into which he later wove the name Bach and a fugue movement, and rounded itself off into such a clear, masterful whole that it would have been a finished work of art in print".

On the occasion of a conference in Leipzig, the fragment initially served the St. Gallen organist and style improvisation specialist Rudolf Lutz as the basis for an improvised version, which then became the written version published here in a second step. An interesting work report, published in the congress report This magnificent, impressive instrument - The organ in the age of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Breitkopf and Härtel 2011, including a recording of the sonata), documents Lutz's approach and shows impressively how analytical and stylistic considerations on Mendelssohnian (organ) composition and the creative approach of the experienced improviser - and in particular (like Mendelssohn) trained in Bach - interpenetrate, stimulate and complement each other. The result: a work lasting a good quarter of an hour, which is a welcome counterpart to Mendelssohn's six "canonical" sonatas and perfectly approximates his idiom (not least through some charming echoes of the composer's original works). Despite all the artistry, however, the impression of an "over-composed" movement is never created; the sonata retains the freshness and impetus of an outstanding improvisation.

In terms of playing technique, the three movements are roughly in the range of Mendelssohn's more difficult (3rd/4th) sonatas. Even though only two of the 18 pages of the score go back to Mendelssohn and the rest were not written until 2007. This "new" sonata should be an interesting addition to the German early Romantic repertoire!

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy / Rudolf Lutz. Sonata in d on "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" for organ MWV W 27, edition and completion of a fragment from the Bodleian Library Oxford. Carus 18.120/00, € 15.50, Carus Verlag, Stuttgart 2013