Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Karol Mossakowski
(Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, France)
Karol Mossakowski
(Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, France)
PROGRAM
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
Mattheus-Final, from Bach's Memento
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Schübler Chorales BWV 645-650
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
Improvisation
Wo soll ich fliehen hin
Improvisation
Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten
Improvisation
Meine Seele erhebt den Herren
Improvisation
Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ
Improvisation
Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter auf Erden
Improvisation
Ch.-M. Widor
Symphony No. 5, Op. 42, No. 1
i. Allegro vivace
ii. Allegro cantabile
iii. Andantino quasi allegretto
iv. Adagio
v. Toccata
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
Mattheus-Final, from Bach's Memento
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Schübler Chorales BWV 645-650
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
Improvisation
Wo soll ich fliehen hin
Improvisation
Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten
Improvisation
Meine Seele erhebt den Herren
Improvisation
Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ
Improvisation
Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter auf Erden
Improvisation
Ch.-M. Widor
Symphony No. 5, Op. 42, No. 1
i. Allegro vivace
ii. Allegro cantabile
iii. Andantino quasi allegretto
iv. Adagio
v. Toccata
A titular organist at Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris France, Karol Mossakowski leads an international performing career and is renowned for both his interpretation and improvisation skills; two art forms which mutually enrich one another. In addition to his work at Saint Sulpice Church, Mr. Mossakowski is also professor of improvisation at the Higher School of Music in San Sebastián, Spain (Musikene), and Artist in Residence at the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Poland.
Also a laureate of important international competitions, Mr. Mossakowski earned first prizes at the International Prague Spring Competition in Poland, and at the Grand Prix de Chartres in France.
Recent and upcoming performance highlights include concerts in venues such as Radio France, Philharmonie de Paris, MÜPA Budapest, Wroclaw’s National Forum of Music, Lyon’s Auditorium, Warsaw Philharmonie, Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Madrid’s National Music Auditorium, BOZAR Brussels, Palais Montcalm in Quebec, Bamberg’s Konzerthalle, Dresden Philharmonie, Berlin, Cologne, Vienna, Milan cathedrals , as well as with orchestras as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Odense Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors Myung-Whun Chung, Kent Nagano, Mikko Franck, Fabien Gabel, Giancarlo Guerrero, Cristian Măcelaru and Lawrence Foster.
Karol Mossakowski seeks to keep music alive by highlighting his gifts in the art of improvisation, which plays an important role in his recitals and silent film accompaniments. In 2017, his accompaniment of Dreyer’s Jeanne d’Arc for Lyon’s Festival Lumière was released on DVD and produced by Gaumont films. In 2021 he released his first solo album Rivages, on the Tempéraments label, which features works of Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Liszt with improvisations interspersed.
As a composer, he is in residence at the Festival of Sacred Music in Saint-Malo, France, for which he composed “Les Voiles de la Lumière”, an oratorio for three organs and mixed choir which premiered in 2021, as well as “Trois Versets” for three organs, which premiered in 2022.
Prior to his appointment at St. Sulpice in Paris, Karol served as titular organist at the Cathedral in Lille in the north of France from 2017-2023, Artist in Residence at Radio France in Paris from 2019-2022, and in the 2014-2015 season he served as Young Artist in Residence at Cathedral of St. Louis King of France in New Orleans (USA).
Karol Mossakowski began studying the piano and organ with his father at the age of three. After musical studies in Poland with Elżbieta Karolak and Jarosław Tarnawski, he entered the organ, improvisation, and composition classes at the Paris Conservatory as a student of Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard, Thierry Escaich, and Philippe Lefebvre.
Also a laureate of important international competitions, Mr. Mossakowski earned first prizes at the International Prague Spring Competition in Poland, and at the Grand Prix de Chartres in France.
Recent and upcoming performance highlights include concerts in venues such as Radio France, Philharmonie de Paris, MÜPA Budapest, Wroclaw’s National Forum of Music, Lyon’s Auditorium, Warsaw Philharmonie, Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Madrid’s National Music Auditorium, BOZAR Brussels, Palais Montcalm in Quebec, Bamberg’s Konzerthalle, Dresden Philharmonie, Berlin, Cologne, Vienna, Milan cathedrals , as well as with orchestras as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Odense Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors Myung-Whun Chung, Kent Nagano, Mikko Franck, Fabien Gabel, Giancarlo Guerrero, Cristian Măcelaru and Lawrence Foster.
Karol Mossakowski seeks to keep music alive by highlighting his gifts in the art of improvisation, which plays an important role in his recitals and silent film accompaniments. In 2017, his accompaniment of Dreyer’s Jeanne d’Arc for Lyon’s Festival Lumière was released on DVD and produced by Gaumont films. In 2021 he released his first solo album Rivages, on the Tempéraments label, which features works of Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Liszt with improvisations interspersed.
As a composer, he is in residence at the Festival of Sacred Music in Saint-Malo, France, for which he composed “Les Voiles de la Lumière”, an oratorio for three organs and mixed choir which premiered in 2021, as well as “Trois Versets” for three organs, which premiered in 2022.
Prior to his appointment at St. Sulpice in Paris, Karol served as titular organist at the Cathedral in Lille in the north of France from 2017-2023, Artist in Residence at Radio France in Paris from 2019-2022, and in the 2014-2015 season he served as Young Artist in Residence at Cathedral of St. Louis King of France in New Orleans (USA).
Karol Mossakowski began studying the piano and organ with his father at the age of three. After musical studies in Poland with Elżbieta Karolak and Jarosław Tarnawski, he entered the organ, improvisation, and composition classes at the Paris Conservatory as a student of Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard, Thierry Escaich, and Philippe Lefebvre.
Program Notes
by Dr. Kenneth Udy, University of Utah
In 1925, a quarter of a century after he finished the last of his ten organ symphonies, Widor wrote Bach’s Memento, a suite of Romantic organ arrangements based on his favorite pieces by Bach. Widor wrote the set to inaugurate a three-manual organ at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau—a post-war summer school he directed. His arrangements pleased some but offended others. Joseph Bonnet, a former student of Guilmant and founder of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music, described the collection as “tantamount to questioning papal infallibility [where] noble pieces of Bach are mercilessly deformed and gain nothing from these tasteless treatments.” Notwithstanding, a century later, the pendulum has swung and Bach’s Memento is viewed as “Widor’s heartfelt tribute to Bach, whom Widor regarded as the foundation of organ music.” Mattheus-Final, the monumental conclusion of the suite, is based on the last chorus in the Saint Matthew Passion, “Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder” [We sit down in tears]. Its scope is akin to the closing of one of Widor’s organ symphonies.
Bach also created a set of six organ arrangements, but from cantata movements he had composed during his early years in Leipzig. Published in 1748 by his former pupil Johann Georg Schübler (hence the nickname, Schübler Chorales), the set was one of only three collections of Bach’s music published during Bach’s lifetime. The six chorale preludes all exemplify the prevailing ritornello chorale, the alternation of a recurring main theme (ritornello) and an unadorned hymn tune (cantus firmus). The ritornello establishes the mood for each setting and functions almost independently from the cantus firmus. (1) Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme [Awake, the voice is calling us] is undoubtedly Bach’s most famous organ chorale prelude. Transcribed from Movement 4 of Cantata 140 (1731) this arrangement features the chorale melody in the tenor under bustling violin and basso continuo parts played in the right hand and pedal. (2) Wo soll ich fliehen hin [Where shall I flee] is a mystery, as there is no extant source from which this chorale prelude was transcribed. Scholars suggest that it is either taken from a lost cantata, or it is an original organ piece. It features a rapid flowing and contrapuntal accompaniment that contrasts with the long notes of the chorale melody played on a 4’ pedal stop. (3) Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten [He who lets only the dear God rule], derived from the fourth movement of Cantata 93 (1724), was originally a duet for soprano and alto (right hand) accompanied by strings (left hand) with the cantus firmus entrusted to the violins and violas in unison (4’ pedal stop). (4) Meine Seele erhebt den Herren [My soul magnifies the Lord] is scored in the fifth movement of Cantata 10 (Feast of Visitation, 1724) as a duet between alto and tenor with the chorale stated by the trumpet and oboe in unison. The organ version is again a quartet, but this time, the bass of the continuo is heard in the pedal (without realization), and it is the left hand that plays the two alto and tenor voices, while the cantus firmus appears in the right hand. The text is none other than the Lutheran adaptation of the Catholic Magnificat. (5) Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ [Abide with us, Lord Jesus Christ] is transcribed from the third movement of Cantata 6 (Easter Monday, 1725). It presents a joyful chorale melody in the soprano, set against a playful and quick-running bass line. As in Wachet auf, the organ transcription is very faithful to the original. (6) Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter auf Erden [Come now, Jesus, from heaven down] is taken from the second movement of Cantata 137 (1725), this energetic piece is characterized by its “whiplash” motoric figures and a triumphal, ornamented melody. Cantata 137 is an exultant choral cantata composed to celebrate the election of the new council with great fanfare of trumpets, oboes, and timpani. The chorale is one of the most famous tunes of the Lutheran church, often used with the hymn “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.”
Tonight’s organist occupies the same post as Widor, who reigned for 64 years over the largest organ in France at Saint-Sulpice. Presiding at its mammoth console, Widor could imagine himself sitting in the middle of a huge orchestra. Following César Franck's lead, Widor took the multi-movement plan of the orchestral symphony and established the organ symphony as a genre with his first four symphonies in 1872, just two years after his appointment at Saint-Sulpice. He continued to develop and expand the form in his next series of four symphonies from 1878–1887. One of these, his Symphony No. 5 in F Minor, is a work of breathtaking originality and joie de vivre. Its outer movements are renowned, but it is arguably the middle movements that demonstrate Widor’s talents as a symphonist. The Wagnerian flavor of these movements seems to transcend the notion of time and place; the unhurried development of his musical ideas is both elegant and spacious. Widor premiered the complete symphony October 19, 1879, on the organ at the Trocadéro in Paris, one of Cavaillé-Coll’s most celebrated non-liturgical instruments. It is in five movements: (1) Allegro vivace. After the opening chordal theme and three subsequent highly imaginative variations, the movement is interrupted by a flowing and expansive Mendelssohnian melody in F major played on all the foundation stops, leading to a restatement of the opening theme and an extensive fantasia in which the theme is developed with a crescendo of increasing energy and excitement. (2) Allegro cantabile. This charming movement, in ABA form, opens with a brief recitative and introduces a plaintive melody played on the oboe over a staccato Alberti bass. The texture is later enriched by a counter melody that is “thumbed down” onto another manual, as the right hand plays on two manuals simultaneously! Just as the music seems to come to a close, the middle section presents a new musical idea on the strings and with a melody on the Flûte harmonique. This idea is then developed in Wagnerian fashion with swirling arpeggios in a musical “dream sequence” before the recapitulation. At one time, this was Widor’s second most popular movement, and he even transcribed it for piano. (3) Andantino quasi allegretto in A-flat major functions as a kind of interlude which juxtaposes two themes: one a martial pedal theme based on the interval of an octave, and the other a four-part chorale. (4) Adagio. This is one of Widor’s most beautiful and atmospheric compositions of calm and unhurried intensity. The theme gently hints at the tumultuous toccata that follows. Played throughout on the strings and céleste, the initial measures sketch a canon between the soprano and a 4’ flute stop in the pedal, which Widor abandons for a five-part ricercar. The final bars with their drawn-out C-major cadences instill a deep sense of peace. (5) Toccata. One of the most popular pieces of organ music ever written, this grandfather of all French organ toccatas is a considerable test of stamina for even the finest virtuosos. It combines swirling manual figurations and uninterrupted punctuating chords (rhythmically derived from the second variation of the first movement), all underpinned by a broad rolling theme in the pedals. The central section, with its alternating arpeggios between the two hands, seeks more nuanced effects. The 88-year-old Widor chose to play this “signature piece” for his first recording in 1932.
by Dr. Kenneth Udy, University of Utah
In 1925, a quarter of a century after he finished the last of his ten organ symphonies, Widor wrote Bach’s Memento, a suite of Romantic organ arrangements based on his favorite pieces by Bach. Widor wrote the set to inaugurate a three-manual organ at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau—a post-war summer school he directed. His arrangements pleased some but offended others. Joseph Bonnet, a former student of Guilmant and founder of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music, described the collection as “tantamount to questioning papal infallibility [where] noble pieces of Bach are mercilessly deformed and gain nothing from these tasteless treatments.” Notwithstanding, a century later, the pendulum has swung and Bach’s Memento is viewed as “Widor’s heartfelt tribute to Bach, whom Widor regarded as the foundation of organ music.” Mattheus-Final, the monumental conclusion of the suite, is based on the last chorus in the Saint Matthew Passion, “Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder” [We sit down in tears]. Its scope is akin to the closing of one of Widor’s organ symphonies.
Bach also created a set of six organ arrangements, but from cantata movements he had composed during his early years in Leipzig. Published in 1748 by his former pupil Johann Georg Schübler (hence the nickname, Schübler Chorales), the set was one of only three collections of Bach’s music published during Bach’s lifetime. The six chorale preludes all exemplify the prevailing ritornello chorale, the alternation of a recurring main theme (ritornello) and an unadorned hymn tune (cantus firmus). The ritornello establishes the mood for each setting and functions almost independently from the cantus firmus. (1) Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme [Awake, the voice is calling us] is undoubtedly Bach’s most famous organ chorale prelude. Transcribed from Movement 4 of Cantata 140 (1731) this arrangement features the chorale melody in the tenor under bustling violin and basso continuo parts played in the right hand and pedal. (2) Wo soll ich fliehen hin [Where shall I flee] is a mystery, as there is no extant source from which this chorale prelude was transcribed. Scholars suggest that it is either taken from a lost cantata, or it is an original organ piece. It features a rapid flowing and contrapuntal accompaniment that contrasts with the long notes of the chorale melody played on a 4’ pedal stop. (3) Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten [He who lets only the dear God rule], derived from the fourth movement of Cantata 93 (1724), was originally a duet for soprano and alto (right hand) accompanied by strings (left hand) with the cantus firmus entrusted to the violins and violas in unison (4’ pedal stop). (4) Meine Seele erhebt den Herren [My soul magnifies the Lord] is scored in the fifth movement of Cantata 10 (Feast of Visitation, 1724) as a duet between alto and tenor with the chorale stated by the trumpet and oboe in unison. The organ version is again a quartet, but this time, the bass of the continuo is heard in the pedal (without realization), and it is the left hand that plays the two alto and tenor voices, while the cantus firmus appears in the right hand. The text is none other than the Lutheran adaptation of the Catholic Magnificat. (5) Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ [Abide with us, Lord Jesus Christ] is transcribed from the third movement of Cantata 6 (Easter Monday, 1725). It presents a joyful chorale melody in the soprano, set against a playful and quick-running bass line. As in Wachet auf, the organ transcription is very faithful to the original. (6) Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter auf Erden [Come now, Jesus, from heaven down] is taken from the second movement of Cantata 137 (1725), this energetic piece is characterized by its “whiplash” motoric figures and a triumphal, ornamented melody. Cantata 137 is an exultant choral cantata composed to celebrate the election of the new council with great fanfare of trumpets, oboes, and timpani. The chorale is one of the most famous tunes of the Lutheran church, often used with the hymn “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.”
Tonight’s organist occupies the same post as Widor, who reigned for 64 years over the largest organ in France at Saint-Sulpice. Presiding at its mammoth console, Widor could imagine himself sitting in the middle of a huge orchestra. Following César Franck's lead, Widor took the multi-movement plan of the orchestral symphony and established the organ symphony as a genre with his first four symphonies in 1872, just two years after his appointment at Saint-Sulpice. He continued to develop and expand the form in his next series of four symphonies from 1878–1887. One of these, his Symphony No. 5 in F Minor, is a work of breathtaking originality and joie de vivre. Its outer movements are renowned, but it is arguably the middle movements that demonstrate Widor’s talents as a symphonist. The Wagnerian flavor of these movements seems to transcend the notion of time and place; the unhurried development of his musical ideas is both elegant and spacious. Widor premiered the complete symphony October 19, 1879, on the organ at the Trocadéro in Paris, one of Cavaillé-Coll’s most celebrated non-liturgical instruments. It is in five movements: (1) Allegro vivace. After the opening chordal theme and three subsequent highly imaginative variations, the movement is interrupted by a flowing and expansive Mendelssohnian melody in F major played on all the foundation stops, leading to a restatement of the opening theme and an extensive fantasia in which the theme is developed with a crescendo of increasing energy and excitement. (2) Allegro cantabile. This charming movement, in ABA form, opens with a brief recitative and introduces a plaintive melody played on the oboe over a staccato Alberti bass. The texture is later enriched by a counter melody that is “thumbed down” onto another manual, as the right hand plays on two manuals simultaneously! Just as the music seems to come to a close, the middle section presents a new musical idea on the strings and with a melody on the Flûte harmonique. This idea is then developed in Wagnerian fashion with swirling arpeggios in a musical “dream sequence” before the recapitulation. At one time, this was Widor’s second most popular movement, and he even transcribed it for piano. (3) Andantino quasi allegretto in A-flat major functions as a kind of interlude which juxtaposes two themes: one a martial pedal theme based on the interval of an octave, and the other a four-part chorale. (4) Adagio. This is one of Widor’s most beautiful and atmospheric compositions of calm and unhurried intensity. The theme gently hints at the tumultuous toccata that follows. Played throughout on the strings and céleste, the initial measures sketch a canon between the soprano and a 4’ flute stop in the pedal, which Widor abandons for a five-part ricercar. The final bars with their drawn-out C-major cadences instill a deep sense of peace. (5) Toccata. One of the most popular pieces of organ music ever written, this grandfather of all French organ toccatas is a considerable test of stamina for even the finest virtuosos. It combines swirling manual figurations and uninterrupted punctuating chords (rhythmically derived from the second variation of the first movement), all underpinned by a broad rolling theme in the pedals. The central section, with its alternating arpeggios between the two hands, seeks more nuanced effects. The 88-year-old Widor chose to play this “signature piece” for his first recording in 1932.
