Frederic Goossen

Organ

1) Allegro non troppo, ma deciso
2) Con moto
3) Con moto
4) Vivo
5) Andante deliberato
6) Allegro risoluto
Ever since Cesar Franck's three organ "chorales" of 1890 (which are large, single-movement fantasies and use no pre-existing melodies), the term chorale has been used by composers for a very wide range of organ pieces. Frederic Goossen's "Six Chorales for Organ" (1967) would perhaps be more accurately titled chorale preludes, for they hew closely to the model of the baroque chorale prelude, as practiced by every organ composer of that era. Baroque chorale preludes took traditional church melodies as their "cantus firmus". By contrast, Goossen's six pieces use original melodies; however, these melodies are treated very much in the manner of baroque chorale preludes. In each piece, a different baroque-inspired texture/form is explored. Not only are Goossen's chorale melodies freely-composed, they are also freely-modal, and the harmony of their "accompaniments" is constructed using serial methods. Goossen's approach to serial harmony in the piece is not particularly Germanic (Schoenbergian), but more American: along the lines of the more "open" harmony that one finds in Copland's late serial compositions. His use of serial techniques also does not preclude various tonal and modal moments, especially in terms of cadences. The overall result are pieces that are recognizably "baroque chorale preludes," though with a sound world from American academic music of the 1960s.