Rheinberger Organ Concerto No. 2

Rheinberger Organ Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, op. 177
Carol Wilson, organ
First United Methodist Church
September 15, 2019
Overview: Joseph Rheinberger
Born March 17, 1839, Vaduz, Liechtenstein; died November 25, 1901, Munich, Germany
Work Composed: 1894
Josef Rheinberger’s talent was apparent early; he was organist at his parish church at the age of seven, and just five years later he was accepted into the Munich Conservatorium. He began teaching in Munich shortly after graduating, and remained there for the rest of his life.
That resumé might barely hints at Rheinberger’s ambition and energy. He performed extensively. He composed industriously, with nearly 200 compositions published in his lifetime, and many posthumous works. His copious organ works are his best known compositions, but he composed prolifically in many genres, ranging from opera, oratorio, and cantata, to songs and piano solos.
In addition, Rheinberger was one of his era’s most influential teachers, instructing or mentoring a slew of German musicians, though only Engelbert Humperdinck (composer of the opera Hänsel und Gretel) and the legendary conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler are still widely remembered. He also gave advice and encouragement to the young Richard Strauss, but this relationship ended in 1888 when Rheinberger reacted to Don Juan - Strauss’s first mature work - by saying, “It’s a pity that you’ve got on to this false track, you’ve so much talent.” (The easy-going Strauss didn’t take it too personally; he continued to conduct Rheinberger’s works - including the 1894 premier of this concerto. However, he stopped showing his music to Rheinberger.)
As his remark to Strauss suggests, Rheinberger was a staunchly conservative composer, firmly in the camp of Brahms and Dvořák, as opposed to the modernism of Wagner and Liszt. The triumph of Wagnerism, along with the rise of other modern approaches, probably contributed to the obscurity that has largely enfolded Rheinberger’s music after his death. This is unfortunate, because Rheinberger’s music is excellent: not gloriously original - you will hear echoes of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Bach - but always well crafted, usually beautiful, and often inspired. And as with Brahms, who was less conservative than his contemporaries realized, Rheinberger’s harmonies sometimes surprise, and his thematic development is sophisticated.
The Organ Concerto follows a typical three-movement structure, with two fast sonata-form movements flanking a slower A-B-A movement. The organ and the orchestra are tightly integrated. The organ is often doubled with other instruments, and Rheinberger varies the tone color adroitly. One phrase might feature the organ doubling the French horns, and the next doubling the violins. As in Chopin’s piano concertos, there is no spectacular cadenza for the soloist, but the solo part is nearly continuous: The organist’s longest rest is a mere five-and-a-half bars long.
The concerto begins dramatically, with a catchy and rhythmically jagged motif that helps guide us through the sonata form. The second theme’s noble lyricism is more typical of Rheinberger, but it also invites an unflattering comparison with Edward Elgar’s slightly later Enigma Variations, which uses the same opening motif to greater effect.
The second movement features a pithy, songlike theme that recurs in subtle variants, a lá Schumann. The middle section’s theme is more vigorous, and the lovely transition back to the first theme shows off Rheinberger’s compositional skill. The finale begins with a hammering theme; its most charming theme is the closing theme, slightly reminiscent of Schubert’s Ninth Symphony. Rheinberger’s sense of form is sure, and just when it sounds as if the concerto is churning towards a triumphant but slightly pat major-key conclusion, it suddenly swerves back to minor for a tempestuous coda that gives the final cadence a heroic cast.