[MUSIC PLAYING]

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square welcomes you to Piping Up: Tabernacle Organists in Concert. Tonight's concert on the historic Tabernacle organ is a kickoff event for a new series of online organ concerts by Tabernacle organists Richard Elliott, Andrew Unsworth, Brian Mathias, Linda Margetts, and Joseph Peeples. This new series, called Piping Up: Organ Concerts at Temple Square, will be streamed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon mountain time. Piping Up renews the more than a century-old tradition of noon organ recitals at Temple Square, a tradition that has recently been on hiatus due to current pandemic precautions. The new streaming series and tonight's concert event have been produced without an audience and comply with all COVID-19 guidelines. We hope you enjoy this evening's Piping Up concert with selections by all five Tabernacle and Temple Square organists. First up, a performance by our newest organist, Joseph Peeples. [MUSIC - JACQUES NIKOLAS LEMMONS, "FANFARE"] We have just heard Joseph Peeples play the "Fanfare" from E'Cole d'Orgue by the Belgian composer and organist Jacques-Nikola Lemmens. A pioneer of the modern French organ school, Lemmens taught at the Brussels Conservatoire, where his students included such organ luminaries as Alexandre Guilmant and Charles-Marie Widor. Next, we will hear Brian Mathias play the "Little Fugue in G Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach. This work was most likely composed while Bach was organist at the New Church in Arnstadt when he was in his late teens or early 20s. It has since become one of his best known melodies. Then Richard Elliott plays the blistering "Toccata in B Minor" by French organist Eugene Gigout. It exemplifies the new French style of organ composition made possible by the innovative organ designs of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll with symphonic stops, full registrations, and seamless crescendos. Gigout's "Toccata" was published in 1890. [MUSIC - JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, "LITTLE FUGUE IN G MINOR"]

[MUSIC - EUGENE GIGOUT, "TOCCATA IN B MINOR"]

[MUSIC - JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, "JESU, JOY OF MAN'S DESIRING"]

Linda Margetts has just performed an organ arrangement by former Tabernacle organist Robert Cundick of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by JS Bach. This well-known pastoral piece was originally written in 1723 as a movement for choir and small orchestra in one of Bach's sacred cantatas. Only later did it become well-known when transcribed as a purely instrumental work. But the lyrics of the original chorale, words that speak of hope, joy, and comfort continue to underscore this music, even when performed without singers. The words that Bach set to this music from a 1661 poem by Martin Jahn offer exuberant gratitude for the certainty and stability of God's love, especially during times of crisis. Nearly half of the stanzas in Jahn's poem end with the line, "I shall not abandon my Jesus." And so bound up integrally in the beauty of the melody and Bach's masterfully harmonized setting are these thoughts on faith and devotion. Jesus remains my joy, my heart's consolation and essence. He is the strength of my life, the delight and sun of my eyes, and the treasure and bliss of my soul, and so I will not leave Jesus. If you're just joining us, you are listening to a special organ program, kicking off a new series of online concerts called Piping Up: Organ Concerts at Temple Square. This new series will be streamed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon mountain time on the Tabernacle Choir's website and its YouTube channel, as well as on broadcasts.churc hofjesuschrist.org.

Next, we will hear Joseph Peeples play the opening "Allegro Con Brio" from Mendelssohn's organ sonata number four in B flat major. Mendelssohn's organ sonatas are not sonatas in the late 18th century classical sense, but rather as Bach, Mendelssohn's musical idol, may have understood the word--a suite of, more or less, independent movements or pieces. The six organ sonatas by Mendelssohn were published in 1845. Linda Margetts then returns with Jeremiah Clark's renowned "Prince of Denmark's March." This march, originally written for harpsichord or wind band, became popular through an arrangement for organ and trumpet from 1878 by William Spark, who unfortunately misidentified the composer as Henry Purcell and retitled the work "Trumpet Voluntary." [MUSIC - MENDELSSOHN, " ALLEGRO CON BRIO"]

[MUSIC - JEREMIAH CLARK, "PRINCE OF DENMARK'S MARCH"]

Edward Elgar's, "Sospiri" 1914 is an eloquent testimonial to the composer's gift for poignant melody and enthralling harmonies. Composed concurrently with the outbreak of World War I, its title, the Italian word for size, suggests an expression of profound yearning. Tabernacle organist, Andrew Unsworth, now plays his own arrangement of Edward Elgar's, "Sospiri." [MUSIC - EDWARD ELGAR, "SOSPIRI, OP. 70"]

Our program tonight marks the renewal of a Temple Square tradition of noon organ recitals that stretches back for more than a century. These noon recitals have been on hiatus due to current pandemic precautions but will recommence via an online stream every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon mountain time on the tabernaclechoir.org website. Another long-standing tradition at these Tabernacle organ recitals is for the organist to play an arrangement of the hymn, "Come, Come Ye Saints," one of the best-known hymns of the Latter-day Saint movement. Linda Margetts will play her own arrangement of "Come Come Ye Saints," in which the first verse uses only the original pioneer-era pipes that are still part of this historic organ. Then Brian Mathias plays his own arrangement of the hymn, "Wondrous Love." Like "Come Come Ye Saints," "Wondrous Love" adapted its tune from an old English ballad. Mathias wrote this arrangement in 2017 to highlight in particular the Tabernacle organ's uniquely beautiful strings stops. Richard Elliott then performs his own arrangement of the African American spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," written especially for performances during the Tabernacle Choir's tour of 2009. [MUSIC - "COME, COME YE SAINTS"]

[MUSIC - "WONDROUS LOVE"]

[MUSIC - "SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT"]

Composed in 1828, Willhelm Tell was Gioacchino Rossini's his 39th and last opera. Today, the most famous part of the opera is undoubtedly the overture, which paints a musical picture of 14th century life in the Swiss Alps. The overture is conclusion originally represented the Swiss soldiers' triumph over Austrian oppression, though now it conjures pop culture images of any swashbuckling hero in any time and place. Thanks to some nifty overdubbing and video editing, we will now hear all five Tabernacle organists in a virtual organ quintet, playing Richard Elliott's arrangement of the finale from Rossini's "William Tell Overture." [MUSIC - GIOACCHINO ROSSINI, "WILLIAM TELL"]

This special presentation of Piping Up has featured performances by all five Tabernacle and Temple Square organists, playing the historic Tabernacle organ in Salt Lake City. To hear more inspiring organ music, please join us again for Piping Up: Organ Concerts at Temple Square every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon mountain time on the Tabernacle Choir's website and its YouTube channel, as well as on broadcasts.churc hofjesuschrist.org. [MUSIC PLAYING]