Toccata Psalm 146

Jan Zwart (Zaandam, 20 August 1877 – 13 July 1937) was a Dutch organist and a pupil of H.van Eyk. He was organist of the first Dutch Reformed Church in Rotterdam, and was appointed to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Amsterdam in 1898. It was here in 1914 that he began his weekly organ concerts during the summer months. He was the first Dutch organist to perform on the radio. By these performances, he reached a large audience, and was an able teacher and organ historian. One of his most famous pupils was Feike Asma. He wrote many articles about the old-Dutch organ history, and had a great interest in the music of Sweelinck. Zwart composed a good deal of organ music, and in 1917, he began the publication of "Dutch organ music", and was the initiator of the Dutch organ days. A great deal of interest in him and his music continued after his death, and there remains a great affection for him and his beautiful compositions.

I played this work a few days ago as the concluding work in my Wednesday recital, "Variations are the Spice of Life", in which I tried to show some of the principal forms of variation-types common in organ music: fantasy, prelude, theme & variations, passacaglia, chaconne, and toccata.

I chose Hereford hoping that the "heavy weight" of the Full Swell would "helP" my ear. The editor of the reconstructed edition, Pierre Gouin, says "NO 16' stops", but I preferred it with, especially since a lot of the music is "high" in the range.

Unfortunately for me, my ear simply could not handle ANY of it, so, I played this entirely with "no sound", as in playing a "turned-off" organ. Whether or not I got it right doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, "What's the point?"

The subtitle says: "Prijs den Heer met blijde galmen," which I think means something like: "Praise the Lord with outbursts gladness". Perhaps one of our Dutch members can correct me.