The more I learn about organ music, the stronger is my feeling that it relies on improvisation more heavily than any other branch of classical music. I mean, it’s not that all pianists play reading notes on sheet music; however those exceptions to the rule have been belonging to a jazz camp as a matter of fact.
The composer I want to write about today is Georg Böhm, German Baroque organist and one of the primary contributors to the genre of the chorale partita. In the first instance Böhm is notable for writing in the stylus fantasticus – a method of composing which is not unencumbered with conditionalities. Invented by Athanasius Kircher, the first man to see microbes with his own eyes, this style gives rare freedom to a composer, comparable to such provided by white verse to a poet. What is also interesting about Böhm’s works is that in the most cases they can be played on various instruments, depending on a musician’s preference – for example, organ and harpsichord. One such can be found by the following link:
Complete Works for Organ and Harpsichord. Book I
Enjoy!
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