The Formative Organ

    Robert Schumann and Ludwig van Beethoven. What connects them? Perhaps one might say it is that Schumann and Beethoven wrote extensively for the piano. They did! However, I ask you to think beyond that. The were Romantics, say you? Beethoven did knock on the door of Romanticism, and one could consider him part of that movement, but what a lot of people miss is that they were both organists. They did not write for the organ in the same way as Buxtehude or Bach did, but they both revered the organ, and the ones who had mastered it.

    Beethoven's thoughts were often directed towards his years as organist, the period of his life which provides clues of the greatest importance to his later achievements, for the years he spent at the organ form the complete expression of his life; in his capacity as organist at the Electoral court Beethoven gained all those ideas of art and art-forms which needed only the richer atmosphere of Vienna to give them depth and fullness and ripen them into the genius which we recognize today. (From Austin, Cecil. “Beethoven and the Organ.” The Musical Times, vol. 80, no. 1157, JSTOR, July 1939, p. 525)

'In my youth, I used to play the organ a great deal, but my nerves could not stand the power of that gigantic instrument; an organist who is master of his instrument I place foremost among virtuosi.' - Beethoven.

    For me, the two composers that really set my passion for classical music on fire were Beethoven and Schumann, both whom I learnt to appreciate during the 2020 pandemic. Beethoven was introduced to me on BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week and I learnt more of Schumann through the YouTube vlogs of the concert pianist Tiffany Poon. One of my fondest memories related to Schumann is finishing my Music Theory class with Maestro Augustine Paul early so that I could read from his library. The first book I picked up was a translation of Musikalische Haus- und Lebensregeln, A book of advice for young musicians. What struck me particularly was that Schumann had given advice specifically on the Pipe Organ! Here are the two that do this:

21. If you pass a church and hear an organ, go in and listen. If allowed to sit on the organ bench, try your inexperienced fingers and marvel at the supreme power of music.

22. Do not miss an opportunity of practicing on the organ; for there is no instrument that can so effectually correct errors or impurity of style and touch as that.

    It would appear then, that the organ is truly a formative instrument. If one were to read of Beethoven's love for the organ, especially his monumental achievement of being a church organist by the age of 12, It is no wonder why. Writing by composers like Schumann only back up this hypothesis of the Pipe Organ being a teacher in itself. One can learn so much from just playing the organ! Especially when one realizes that some of the instruments these Maestros have played still exist today. What an honor it would be to one day sit it such a console!