A manner of performance depends upon at least one of three possible means for its continuation. First, the originator of the performance tradition leaves to posterity an edited or annotated edition of the musical work in question. Second, that originator engenders a progeny of students who continue the tradition and may be expected to pass on to their students the manner of performance they have learned from "the master." Or, third, the means I undertake here, one of those students provides the annotations and commentary which represent the original ideas once or twice removed from their origination.
I am a student of two organists who were pupils of Karl Straube, the academic colleague of Max Reger at the Leipzig Conservatory and performer of most premieres of Reger's organ music. In 1951-55 at Valparaiso University my teacher was Heinrich Fleischer, who had been one of Straube's last students. In a Fulbright year 1957-58 I studied in Detmold, West Germany, with Michael Schneider, perhaps Straube's most renowned successor. It was as student of the former that I studied the Reger Toccata and Fugue in d/D.
Straube made Reger's music famous and established a tradition of playing Reger's organ music that had the composer's approval. I understood the changes to the printed score in the Peters edition Nr. 3008a made by Fleischer when instructing me to be "in the Straube tradition." Had Fleischer been the only organ teacher to have made these changes, claiming "the tradition" as his authority, we might think it merely idiosyncratic. However, when I studied with Schneider I again encountered the "Straube tradition," for Schneider's students, too, altered the printed edition in matters of tempo, dynamics, and registration--in the same details that I had learned. Schneider's students agreed that the alterations to the printed score represented to German organists in the later 20th century the way in which Reger, influenced by Straube's recommendations, intended the Toccata and Fugue to be performed.
To my knowledge Straube never published an edited or annotated edition of the Toccata and Fugue, though he made heavily annotated editions of 17th and 18th century organ music in the series Alte Meister. While I taught my students many of the works of Bach, Reger, and David as I had learned them with Fleischer and Schneider, I realize now, in retirement, that I never taught op. 59, nr. 5 & 6. Recently a student at Valparaiso University, a student of one of my colleagues, performed the Toccata and Fugue exactly according to the printed Peters edition, and I resolved, with no intention of faulting a quite musical performance or questioning in any way collegial pedagogy, that I would take the third mode of communicating the tradition to the student and her teacher as well as to others at Valparaiso University. Their reception of my communication went beyond courtesy, encouraging me to make this commentary more widely known. Thus I present it here in the hope that knowledge of the Straube tradition for performing these Reger works will have value for New World musicians who, perhaps schooled in other traditions, may be unaware that the printed page in at least this instance is insufficient evidence of the composer's intentions.
At least I shall rest easier in retirement having made an attempt to hand on a tradition that was in turn handed to me early in my life. If Straube is the father of the tradition, and Fleischer is the son, then I am a grandson and you may become a great-grandchild!
In my commentary I refer to Edition Peters Nr. 3008a, the first volume of the Zwölf Stücke, op. 59, pp. 20-30. Since Heinrich Fleischer was always a meticulous annotator of printed scores, his own as well as those belonging to his students, I am confident that I have accurately described the "son's" instructions still clearly visible in my undergraduate copy.
Toccata in d, op. 59, no. 5
Vivacissimo stands but a crescendo with boxes followed by a quick diminuendo happens in the first measure. Before the change to Man. I the boxes open. The first note A of the scale at the end of measure 1 is changed from 32nd rest to a 16th A to make this like the scales at the ends of measures 5 & 6.
At the fourth beat of measure 3 a ritenuto begins and the (kurz!) on the third beat of measure 4 is eliminated.
The fourth beat of measure 4 is a tempo and the dynamics of measure 5 parallel those of measure 1.
The first three beats of measure 7 are rall.
Beat 4 of measure 7 is a tempo and the ff is modified by beginning with closed boxes; the crescendo then happens before the pedal entrance in measure 9.
The last 8th of measure 9 begins a rit. to the third 8th of measure 10.
The 32nd run up to G# has the marking Sostenuto and the first chord of beat 3 is played as if a 16th followed by a 16th rest. This articulation is imitated at the downbeat of measure 11 when only the tied As and the pedal G are held while the other notes are lifted before the downbeat.
Measure 11, fourth beat is ritenuto through beat 2 of measure 12.
Beat 3 of measure 12 is Vivace, boxes closed then opened. This passage begins on Swell moving to Great on the third triplet 16th A of beat 4, measure 13.
Measure 14 beat 4 is rit. and beat 2 of measure 15 is a tempo, boxes closed beginning on Swell moving to Great on the last note of measure 15 (F#). The boxes open and the Crescendo pedal is used to complete the crescendo in measure 19.
The slurs printed for measures 16 & 17 are countermanded by strong articulations of the sixth and eighth 8th notes of measure 16 and the second, fifth and seventh 8ths in measure 17 right hand; fourth, sixth and eighth 8ths in left hand measure 17. The brillante passage is legato through the ritenuto that begins beat 2 measure 19.
Measure 21 is, of course, a new registration but piano so that the ppp of measure 23 is audible. The Un poco mosso of the printed score is not cancelled but the Straube instruction Tranquillo is added. My memory is that the tempo here is very moderate!
The fermata and rit. as well as (kurz!) in measure 25 are operative.
Vivacissimo stands and again the boxes start closed, open for the crescendo as well as the change of manual, the Great entering left hand sixth 8th measure 26, right hand first 8th measure 27.
Measure 28 second 8th begins a ritard. until measure 29.
Measure 29 is Sostenuto and the rolled chords are played as if notated in equal 64ths, the final top note leading metrically evenly to the next pedal tone. Stringendo applies with no slowing until the high B-flat of measure 30.
In measure 30 the fermata remains while the (sehr kurz) is cancelled. The effect is that of a rush to the B-flat, a poising aloft and then an extremely fast rush downward (quasi Prestissimo assai) to the pedal G-flat.
Measure 30 beat 4 is again Sostenuto and the chord tones are rolled evenly as 32nds, holding the harmonic tones while releasing the non-harmonic.
The Straube alterations of page 24 are the boldest, departing from the printed instructions radically.
The sempre stringendo that is printed becomes ritenuto molto, beginning especially with the high B-natural. Beat 2 measure 33 has an implied fermata.
The tempo marking for measure 33 beat 3 is no longer a tempo but Adagio and meno ff is changed to a piano registration of soft Swell in the left hand and a Great solo flute (probably coupled to Swell) for the right hand. This quite slow passage begins with the boxes closed. They open a little at beat 4 measure 34 and close down again beats 3 & 4 measure 35.
The last beat of measure 35 is ritenuto and dim.
The downbeat of measure 36 is yet in the ritarded Adagio, but the C# (second note in the right hand) begins the Più Andante of the last measures. The registration change to begin the crescendo is made during a slight break between measures 35 & 36, but the tempo change waits for the second note of measure 36.
Measures 36 & 37 observe the printed stringendo e sempre crescendo until the molto rit. beat 3 measure 37, by which time the Crescendo pedal has been opened wide. These measures are strongly articulated by breaks alternating between pedal and hands. In the pedal every G# is separated from the preceding A with an easily audible break. In the hands beats 3 measure 36 and 1 & 3 measure 37 are similarly articulated.
Straube calls for the final measure to be played Grave.
NB. The Adagio/piano of measure 33ff. balances and answers the Tranquillo moment of measures 21-25. The Più Andante of measure 36 restores faster motion but never returns to the Vivacissimo of the beginning.
Fugue in D, op. 59, no. 6
Straube made fewer changes to the printed score of the Fugue, mostly refinements of printed tempo markings. The continuous crescendo of the piece and its increasing tempo are not altered in any way. The printed score indicates that by the augmentation of the theme at the bottom of page 29 the tempo has almost doubled. The effect is that the augmented theme on page 29 is in the same tempo as the beginning of the Fugue on page 25. To control the increasing tempo from the beginning it is better to hear/think the quarter-note motion rather than the half-note beat implied by the metric signature and the metronomic markings. My memory again is that the tempos are appreciatively slower than our later 20th-century sense of motion; when I revisited this piece at the rededication of the Reddel Memorial Organ at Valparaiso in 1997 I found that setting the metronome two to four numbers lower than the printed score seemed appropriate.
The beginning according to Straube is Andante Tranquillo (half-note equals approximately 52).
Fleischer called for added stops with each entrance of the theme on the first page, boxes opening after the soprano entrance in measure 11 and closing back before the pedal entrance in measure 17. The addition of stops continues where appropriate and the left hand changes manuals beat 2 measure 22, the right hand joining it on the sixth 8th of measure 26.
Boxes open during measures 29 & 30 making a creascendo to measure 31 which Straube characterizes as Più Tranquillo. The inverted theme in measure 34 can be soloed by the right hand while the left maintains alto and tenor on the secondary manual. With the pedal entrance measure 37 the alto and tenor remain there. The theme in measure 40 3rd beat can again be soloed (a trio!).
Measure 44 Straube calls Un poco più mosso and both hands come to the Great.
The bass notes of measures 46 & 47 are taken by the left hand--a bit of stretch, but it can be done; the thematic entrance in the pedal is then clearer.
Measure 54 according to Straube is played Allegro Moderato. Fleischer soloed the theme in the left hand on the Great, returning to the secondary manual beat 2 measure 57. The left hand again solos beat 3 measure 60 and the right hand joins it on the Great beat 3 measure 63.
Because the Valparaiso University organ in 1952/53 was quite inadequate to the task of creating a continuing crescendo, Fleischer had me return to the secondary manual beats 3 & 4 measure 66 so that the theme in measure 67 could again be on the Great. The right hand returned to the Great at measure 71 with the alto theme and soprano counterpoint and the Crescendo pedal was used measures 74-78 (Crescendo Pleno).
The thematic entrance in the soprano, beat 2 measure 77 is marked by a caesura before D, violating the printed slur.
Caesurae can be used effectively in measures 82 & 83 between soprano and alto/tenor. Caesurae can also effectively mark the sequences in the soprano of measures 85 & 86.
The approach to the downbeat of measure 87 is intensified by added notes. The tenor D in measure 86 is held throughout (and ties into the alto D of measure 87) and to the final 8th G is added a B, so that the final 8th in the left hand is a full G major triad, which resolves to the F# of measure 87 with an added A. Meanwhile the final 8th of the alto in measure 86 continues the G of beat 4 while E is sounding and the downbeat of measure 87 adds both F# and A making a complete D major chord in the right hand.
In measure 87 a strong articulation of the pedal low A is made the more emphatic if the soprano and tenor ignore the dot of their first notes and play as if written: quarter (printed and added notes) followed by an 8th rest. This allows the alto theme to get our attention and marks at the same time the stretto entrance in the soprano on beat 3.
The printed assai stringendo, molto rit., Org. Pl., and Adagio/sempre Org. Pl. are operative. It is imperative, however, that the player control the tempo so that the deceleration beginning measure 92, working against 90 measures of acceleration, leads continuously into the Adagio lest the final chords seem to the listener half-notes rather than the prescribed (albeit ritarded) quarter-notes.
The coupling of the Toccata and Fugue has become standard performance practice, but the player does this remembering that Reger's score treats them separately as Stücke 5 & 6 of op. 59. The Straube tradition joins them as a pair in what the 19th and 20th centuries have imagined to be a classical baroque manner. An 18th-century performer, though, was probably never constrained to perform as pairs pieces that were published as pairs. Bach's great G minor Fantasia need not always be followed by that energetic but less profound fugue. Reger's Toccata in d is also probably greater than the Fugue in D and can stand alone quite successfully. n
William Eifrig is Professor Emeritus of Music at Valparaiso University. He studied with Marjorie Jackson Rasche, Heinrich Fleischer, Robert Noehren, Michael Schneider, and Marilyn Mason. After 38 years of teaching at Valparaiso he has retired to desert quiet in the Southwest.
