Saturday, September 11, 2010

organ music

A while back, I was asking my organ teacher for ideas of pieces/composers that are suitable for Mass, especially as preludes. He suggested, among other things, a fellow by the name Dom Benoit, or something like that. At some point I also happened to discover a book by this guy in my choir loft, and I only recently realized that it was the same guy! It's called something like "60 Devotional Pieces on Modal Themes for Mass" or something, and he hints in the introduction that he intended them for the "Elevation" (although he has another book with that in the title,) or something like that. This book is one of those delightful little finds, musty and yellowing pages, written in the 1950s or 60s, that has been sitting in my choir loft for who knows how long. I have found several other books like this, of varying levels of usability, and sometimes I think of showing them to my teacher and asking, "is this guy worth it?" and I even wondered that the first time I discovered this book and decided against it, since I just sort of assumed it was some drivel. They are nice, short, rather easy pieces, and with the reverent character that I am always looking for!

1 comment:

Dad29 said...

While you're at it see if you can find works of Flor Peeters (published by Peters, perhaps)..

I have his "Miniatures" and they are terrific short voluntaries for before, after, and during Mass.