Sunday, August 4, 2019, guest organist Kevin Biggins Jr. played
three of the “Six Preludes and Intermezzi” for Organ, Op. 9 (1931) by German organist
and composer Hermann Schroeder (1904-1984).
The six movements are (1) Maestoso, C (2) Andante Sostenuto,
b min (3) Allegro moderato, d min (4) Allegretto, G (5) Andantino, c min (6)
Poco vivace, C.. Biggins played (1) as
the prelude (4) as the offertory, and
the finale after the postlude. The
entire suite, which sounds coherent if played in entirety, takes about eleven
minutes.
Stylistically, the pieces are like Bach inventions, with
harmonies generated by the polyphony that generate a lot of chromaticism with
adventures into adjacent tonalities (sometimes sounding modal, more French than
German). There is effective use of time signature changes to create odd rhythmic
compression effects. The Allegretto is
the one piece that may sound familiar.
The composer would have lived through WWII in Germany and it
is not clear what he did then.
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