Improvisation - Ronny Krippner - Organist, Choral Conductor.

NEW! CD "Sixty Interpretations of Sixty Seconds by Sixty Improvisers"
A collection of solo improvisations sewn together back-to-back by sixty innovative, forward thinking
musicians from all over the world. Ronny Krippner plays an improvisation on the Handel House organ at
St George's Church, Hanover Square (London). Click here for more details!

English Organ Improvisation

in the 20th and 21st Centuries

PhD research project, Birmingham Conservatoire.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Peter Johnson

Abstract

For the organist, improvisation is a necessary skill, yet in comparison with continental practices, it has often been said to be underdeveloped in the UK, not least by a lack of systematic teaching. In the first part of my research I interrogate this criticism, by examining the current practices of organ improvisation in the UK and how it has developed since 1900 in comparison with two Continental schools of improvisation (France and Germany), using recordings and interviews. There seems to have been a major change during the twentieth century regarding the importance of improvisation in the UK: in 1900, it was merely seen as a device for covering gaps in church services whereas, today, improvisation is becoming a more respected art form, perhaps a measure of the influence from French and Dutch practices.

A second aspect of my research is to develop stylistic improvisation for UK organists by analysing key stylistic traits from organ compositions from the Tudor period to the present day. So far, I was able to identify the following English improvisation styles:
•   Tudor Versets (Mulliner Book)
•   Englis Baroque Voluntary (Stanley)
•   English Baroque Concerto (Handel)
•   Early English Orchestral School (Elgar, Stanford)
•   Late English Orchestral School (Howells, Whitlock)
•   English Neoclassical School (Leighton, Mathias)

Practical Example:

Improvising in the style of Handel

On 1st April 2009 I improvised a Voluntary in the style of Handel at the end of the BBC Choral Evensong broadcast from St George´s Church, Hanover Square, London.

The following pages suggest a methodical approach to practising improvisations in a Handelian manner.