Prelude in E minor

This is the first of 4 short preludes by Johann Christian Kittel which C. H. Trevor has included at the beginning of "The Progressive Organist - Book 1".

There are two main teaching points in this work - value of rests, and phrasing.

Look carefully for rests where they occur in each part, and make sure they receive their full value.

Where no phrasing is shown, the RH can maintain legato for the soprano part. There's just one tiny exception - I've created a tiny gap after the very first RH note - shortening the anacrusis note ever so slightly - so that the first note of the first full bar gains prominence.

There are numerous phrases, many with just two notes. To allow the first note of a phrase to stand out, the note before it must be shortened. As a rule, a note at the end of a phrase should be shortened to half it's value - just as when playing repeated notes. This is especially important in a generous acoustic like Poblet Abbey. If you replay the MIDI file on a less reverberant sample set, the way I've played these phrases might sound odd. With drier acoustics, the shortened note may not need to lose as much as half its value.

For registration I've used the Principal 8 and flute 8 on the Ruckpositive, with independent pedal of 16 and 8. I've coupled the Gamba from the Unterwerk to the pedal to give extra definition to the pedal line.