Elijah - Organ Accompaniment?

[pwhodges]

Does anyone know of a score of Mendelssohn's Elijah with accompaniment arranged for organ? I have seen mention of one from Hinrichsen by a Marmaduke Conway, but can find no trace of it.

 

Paul

[andyorgan]

I tracked one down a good few years ago that was either published by Peters, or had that familiar light green cover that made it look like it was. However, understandably perhaps, no one would lend me their copy, so I ended up playing from the new Novello vocal score which I added a few bits to. This turned out quite well in the end (needs a trusty page turner, esp in the faster choruses), as the organ accomp version bit doesn't have any vocal cues etc.

[Henry Willis]

Does anyone know of a score of Mendelssohn's Elijah with accompaniment arranged for organ? I have seen mention of one from Hinrichsen by a Marmaduke Conway, but can find no trace of it.

 

Paul

 

It's a total bugger to play!!

 

I'm a little surprised at "A Marmaduke conway": Dr. Conway was Organist of Ely Cathedral directly before Dr. Campbell. He had the most enormous three-manual reed organ in the house which is now in the posession of the Reed Organ Museum at Shipley.

 

DW

[pwhodges]

I'm a little surprised at "A Marmaduke Conway"

Yes, sorry - brain was off. And I now find that (presumably) this organ arrangement can be bought off the Peters UK web site for about £12; but there is no mention of the arranger, which is why I couldn't find it before.

 

Paul

[Geoffrey Morgan]

I do have an organ accompaniment score for Mendelssohn's "Elijah", though I would be rather reluctant to lend it to anyone...

 

It was published (I think in 1962) by Peters and the arrangement is not by Marmaduke Conway, but by ROBERT MUNNS. Robert also arranged Haydn's "Creation" in the same series. (Marmaduke Conway arranged Handel's "Messiah")

 

I have used the arrangement for "Elijah" and found it excellent. There are not many bars to a page, and there are 211 pages, therefore one does really need a page-turner; but the print is very large and clear. There are full vocal cues.

 

Of all the oratorios, I find this one the most satisfying to play, provided that the organ available is large and resourceful. I know it is frowned upon to do this sort of thing nowadays, but I would far rather hear a performance done with a GTB-style organ accompaniment, than with a second-rate and thinned-out orchestra, as so often happens with struggling choral societies.

 

Geoffrey Morgan

[sotto]

I've played it a number of times from the standard Novello vocal score, its reasonably approachable in this format.

[Buxtehude]

I know it is frowned upon to do this sort of thing nowadays, but I would far rather hear a performance done with a GTB-style organ accompaniment, than with a second-rate and thinned-out orchestra, as so often happens with struggling choral societies.

 

Hear, hear, (crumbs, I must be softening in my old age - I would never have agreed with this 10 years ago)

BUT it takes a really special accompanist to pull this off (and there aren't as many of you around for this sort of thing as there used to be Geoffrey!)

 

I would regard a sound knowledge of the full score as more crucial to successful accompaniment of this repertoire rather than worrying too much about what arrangement is in front of you. Just use the dots on the page as an aide memoire.

 

...and while we're at it, how many of us really know what the harp plays on the opening page of "The Apostles", or how the woodwind is scored at the start of Brahms "Wie Lieblich"/"How lovely"? Geoffrey does - he not only told me, he showed me and showed me various ways to translate that onto the organ.

[innate]

I would regard a sound knowledge of the full score as more crucial to successful accompaniment of this repertoire rather than worrying too much about what arrangement is in front of you. Just use the dots on the page as an aide memoire.

 

...and while we're at it, how many of us really know what the harp plays on the opening page of "The Apostles", or how the woodwind is scored at the start of Brahms "Wie Lieblich"/"How lovely"? Geoffrey does - he not only told me, he showed me and showed me various ways to translate that onto the organ.

Sydney Watson was reputed to accompany Stanford in A from the orchestral score.

[pwhodges]

I saw Sydney play amazingly from a score while chatting over his shoulder on one occasion; but as his organ boy for a while, I can say that he used the ordinary copy of Stanford in A while at Christ Church.

 

Paul