Repertoire Ideas for Halloween Theme Organ ... something ...

[Leisesturm]

I have been invited to do an hour long organ ... concert? Recital? What is the difference? Anyway, the date is October 27th and the promoter would like Halloween themed selections. It is a church venue. I know the instrument well because I was employed there, as organist, for three years. Besides the (obvious?) T&F in Dm and the Boellmann Tocatta, I'm hanged if I know how to fill the remaining time! I haven't given many recitals in my career, certainly I have never given one with constraints or themes. I am not averse to light classical or even non-classical selections, but Grunge Metal stylings might be beyond what a smallish Balcom & Vaughan pipe organ was designed to do. Thanks in advance for your copious submissions.

[andijah]

What about some Edvard Grieg - in the hall of the mountain king, or Ase's death or something like that. There's an OUP "Grieg organ album" and several arrangements on IMSLP.
Cécile Chaminade's "Marche Funèbre" from "Le Nef Sacrée" could also be interesting. It's rather short, though.

[lizny]

Witch's Ride from Hansel Und Gretel, though you'd probably have to do your own transcription

[Admin]

Danse Macabre. This transcription is by Robilliard but the Lemare is just as devilish.

Or perhaps Ride of the Valkyries

[lizny]

Ooooh - Sorcerer's Apprentice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7lF6o85y6U

Johnathan Scott - and he sells a score

[Jay999]

"Funeral March of The Marionettes"....was the Alfred Hitchcock theme.
Theme from "Phantom of The Opera", followed by "Music of The Night".
Both of these are easy to play. The "Funeral March" will be familiar to your older generation
audience.

[samibe]

You could do some of these.

https://musescore.com/samibe/scores/950631
https://musescore.com/user/17962886/scores/3613161
https://www.free-scores.com/download....php?pdf=43402
https://www.free-scores.com/sheetmusic?p=azRuRLVIt1
Mussorgsky would be good (A Night on Bald Mountain and/or Hut on Hen's Legs from Pictures at an Exhibition).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZJ...ature=youtu.be
https://www.free-scores.com/download....php?pdf=32262
Excerpts from Peter and the Wolf (mainly the wolf parts but the grandfather's theme is fun to solo on the pedals).

I've been working on some other transcriptions (Grim grinning ghosts, Thriller, etc.) but I haven't had time to finish them.

[Leisesturm]

This is great stuff! Thank you all.

[myorgan]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Chopin's Funeral March yet. I took a piano copy and basically transcribed it for organ live.

What about Bach's Little Fugue in G Minor? Often a slower tempo change can change the character of a piece immensely. Also, I've played Mancini's Pink Panther before. I used the Marionette piece mentioned above as an occasion to use an 8' Flute with either 2-2/3' or one of the 1-1/3' or 1-3/5' Mutations. Since it's foreign to most listener's ears, it adds to the mystery.

I used to play a Halloween program for a nearby Civil War stone fort on the banks of a river annually. Let me look at the pieces in that book to see if I have more.

Michael

P.S. I much prefer Raúl Prieto RamÃrez' performance of Danse Macabre on YT. I think it's the impish grin as he plays in his t-shirt and jeans (obviously the audience can't see him).

[MarkS]

Liebestod, trans. by E. Lemare
Cortege et Litanie by M. Dupre

[Leisesturm]

Interesting. I was thinking of the Cortege et Litanie. I get the thinking behind suggesting it and agree. I've done it on that organ before. This leads to a different dilemma: that instrument has only a single level combination action. The C&L alone would tie up every available General Piston (8) the way I approach piston usage. I've seen organists give full recitals on instruments without scads of memory levels and some have been kind enough to share their secrets, but I remain resistant as to the finer points of piston economy ... for a program like mine how would one approach the registrations needed for a program that included the Bach T&F in Dm; the Boellmann Toccata, the Bach Fantasia and Fugue in Cm (BWV 537); the Cortege et Litanie (Dupre) and two or three shorter works as suggested by followup posts to my o.p.

[myorgan]

... for a program like mine how would one approach the registrations needed for a program that included the Bach T&F in Dm; the Boellmann Toccata, the Bach Fantasia and Fugue in Cm (BWV 537); the Cortege et Litanie (Dupre) and two or three shorter works as suggested by followup posts to my o.p.

They would approach it very carefully! I actually played, the Bach T&F and Dupré's C&L in the same program. Sometimes instead of using general pistons, divisionals will do just as well. I've found with creative use of divisional pistons and couplers, much more literature can be programmed without the need for additional memory levels. Somewhere I have my music, so I should look and record just what I had preserved. Of course, I was using a 3-manual organ, so that helped reduce the demands on piston memory.

Michael

[Leisesturm]

Publicity for the concert began yesterday. Here is the program so far:
Toccata from "Suite Gothique" Leon Boellmann
opening patter
Fantasia and Fugue in Cm J.S. Bach
Ave Verum Karl Jenkins, arr for Horn and Organ by Howard Ashley (me) My page turner plays horn (so do I) her name is Ashley, we think this is very funny. So will the audience.
Air for Horn and Organ - Bruce Campbell (lovely piece. the only version on YT is awful and incomplete, we hope to offer a better version)
Cortege et Litanie - Marcel Dupre

Intermission (costume change)

Haunted Organ* - Vic Muzzy
This is Halloween** - Danny Elfman (this and the preceding are transcriptions by our own Samibe. He has amazing ears! Do you do commissions, Sam?
Danse Macabre (arr for Horn and Organ) Camille St. Saens
Funeral March of a Marionette - Gounod (or Chopin Funeral March)
Toccata and Fugue in Dm - J.S. Bach

I haven't timed the program yet but it will hopefully not run much over 1 hour. As you can see I leaned heavily on your kind suggestions. Now its off to practice "This is Halloween" which is NOT an easy piece of music to transcribe (or play) for pipe organ. I was messing around with it after church last Sunday and I actually heard some people still in the building singing along!!

*from "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken"
**from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

[samibe]

Wow thanks, Leisesturm. I don't usually do commissions. It takes me way too long to put together an arrangement. That looks like a great program.

[myorgan]

It sounds like the program may run well over an hour (depending on the length of the patter). IIRC, Dupré I timed at approximately 6-8 minutes, T&F approximately the same, and Suite Gothique is approximately 10-12 minutes in its entirety-depending on how slow you take Priérè. That alone is over 1/2 of your program. I do like the comic relief you have in the middle (Ghost & Mr. Chicken, etc.). If you were able to capture video clips, you could make it into a multimedia event!

Have fun with your program! It looks fun!

Michael

[myorgan]

Thank you, Leisesturm.

Unfortunately, one needs a professional account or FB to download the MuseScore PDFs. Too bad, because Sam did some nice work!

Michael

[samibe]

Well that stinks. You can download the .mscz file for free (and the program is still free). They've started doing weird things lately. One of my favorite contributers removed hundreds of pieces he had contributed because they changed the terms significantly. I'll make some PDFs and attach a link to download them.

[myorgan]

Thank you, Sam!

Michael

[samibe]

Alright, here is a link to a google drive folder that I've uploaded a few of my Halloween songs to in both .mscz and .pdf formats. The most complete songs are: Haunted Organ, This is Halloween, and Phantom of the Opera. All of the rest are works in progress and at various stages of completion (use at your own risk).

Vic Mizzy's music is unpublished (except for the Addams family theme). I've had to work out the Ghost and Mr. Chicken songs by ear (which has taken me a while). The main theme is currently scored for the instruments I can hear (which makes it a lot easier to work out each of the parts) and is still missing quite a bit. I was hoping to finish transcribing all of the parts and then work out an arrangement for organ. (An organ part is shown in the score and muted while I work out how to play everything). Obviously, I haven't finished that, yet.

One other disclaimer: Danny Elfman's music awesome and so complicated. 'This is Halloween' seems to shift keys every couple of measures and I had the hardest time working out a way to present it so that it is as easy to read as possible. Even though it starts in Cm, I left the key signature in C and used accidentals for everything. If anyone has some suggestions for how to make it easier to read, send me a PM.

[andijah]

Thanks for the link samibe - when clicking on it, the SuperMario pdf opens. Can't seem to find the folder.

[samibe]

Thanks for the heads up. I fixed the link above.

[andijah]

Thanks samibe! Works perfectly now.