Sigfrid Karg-Elert, to support himself financially while studying at the Leipzig Conservatory, played piano in cafés disguised with a wig and fake beard.
Composer Biography
Julius Reubke, a favorite pupil of Franz Liszt, died at the young age of twenty-four from consumption, limiting his organ repertoire to mainly his Sonata on the 94th Psalm.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Felix Mendelssohn, inspired by Bach, aimed to elevate organ music back into the realm of serious music, much like he had done for Bach's own works.
Composition History
Sigfrid Karg-Elert dedicated his Symphonic Chorale Jesu, meine Freude to Karl Straube, who was the organist at St Thomas's School in Leipzig, where Bach had composed his motet of the same name.
Critical Reception
Max Reger's prolific output led critic Eric Blom to state that Reger 'unquestionably wrote too much music' and that almost every piece 'is stuffed far too full of notes'.
Compositional Technique
Mendelssohn's six organ sonatas, Op. 65, were originally described as 'voluntaries' and were created from various pieces he had already composed, arranged in the manner of Bach's suites.
Composer Biography
Sigfrid Karg-Elert, born Siegfried Karg, changed his first name to Sigfrid and added a variant of his mother's maiden name to his father's when his music was first published.
