Marche Triomphale - Nun danket alle Gott, Op. 65, No. 59

Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933) was born Siegfried Theodor Karg in Oberndorf am Neckar, Germany, the youngest of twelve children. The family finally settled in Leipzig in 1882, where he received his first musical training and private piano instruction. At a gathering of composers in Leipzig, he presented his first attempts at composition to the composer Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, who arranged a three-year tuition-free scholarship at the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied with Jadassohn, Reinecke, Reisenauer and Teichmüller.

Having returned to Leipzig, he started devoting himself to composition, primarily for the piano (encouraged by Edvard Grieg, whom he greatly admired). He soon began writing of the harmonium, and his first original organ works (1909) were the, 66 Chorale Improvisations, Op. 65.

Shunned and neglected in Germany, he accepted an invitation for an organ concert tour of America in the spring of 1932. The tour proved to be a disastrous mistake. He was suffering from the diabetes which would soon kill him, and his limited powers as an organist compared unfavorably to the virtuoso standard of organ performance to which American audiences had grown accustomed.

After his return to Leipzig, his health started deteriorating rapidly. He died there in April 1933, only 55 years old.

Not much need be said about this piece. :-)

I'll just say that this is probably the only organ that I have ever played, real or on Hauptwerk that allows you to crescendo after you've already arrived at fff!

Actually, you can crescendo after that - and after that - and after that, and then, finally, THAT'S ALL THERE IS!

I took the tempo majestically, as the sound and speech of this need to go at a moderate speed.

I saved the biggest stuff for the end. You'll want to listen for the first appearance of the 32' Contre Bombarde. You'll hear it...

DON'T play this too loud, or you may break your speakers AND your head!

The score & 2 photos of Karg-Elert attached below.