The ethnical factor in european literature for the organ in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries based on works by british, italian and Jewish Composers

Abstract

The article presents examples of the emphasised ethnical factor in works belonging to the European organ literature of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, found in pieces written by British, Italian and Jewish composers. In case of British composers, significant were the proposals of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who primarily saw folk songs as the tool for expressing a national style. Among the composers who wrote music inspired by traditional songs or quoting them directly (which was an important novelty in the British organ literature) were: Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Percy Whitlock, Cyril Bradley Rootham, Geoffrey Turton Shaw, Harold Carpenter Lumb Stocks, and more. The influence of national elements on Italian organ literature is not as strong but it seems justified to assume that some composers might have been influenced by the romanità myth which identified the features of the Italian nation with the ideas allegedly drawn from the traditions of ancient Rome. These composers were Giuseppe Corsi and Alfredo Casella. It is worth paying attention to the phenomenon of writing organ masses which preceded the popularisation of that myth. In this context, composers of Jewish organ music attempted to emphasise the ethnical factor in their works in the clearest, most consequent and most comprehensive ways possible. Abraham Zevi Idelsohn summed up their ideological programme, indicating that music meant for being performed in synagogues, including Jewish organ music, should be based on traditional melodies and scales, at the same time using tonal harmonic systems, which was supposed to allow for introducing prayerful atmosphere and concentration of the audience as well as understanding it properly. This group of composers included Louis Lewandowski, David Nowakowski, Arno Nadel, and others.