RWA Online Encyclopedia I – Organ Works op. 92

Suite in G minor op. 92

for organ

Content
  • I. PräludiumPrelude
  • II. Fugue
  • III. Intermezzo
  • IV. Basso ostinato
  • V. Romanza
  • VI. Toccata
  • VII. Fugue
Creation
–
Status
–
Dedication
–
Performance medium
Organ
Work collection
  • -
Original work
  • -
Versions
  • -

1.

Reger-Werkausgabe Bd. I/3: Phantasien und Fugen, Variationen, Sonaten, Suiten II, S. 78–103.
Herausgeber Alexander Becker, Christopher Grafschmidt, Stefan König, Stefanie Steiner.
Verlag Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.803.
Erscheinungsdatum Juni 2012.
Notensatz Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Copyright 2012 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.803.
Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law.
Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved.
ISMN M-007-09754-7.
ISBN 978-3-89948-170-9.

1. Composition

After the composition of some smaller organ works, including the Twelve Pieces op. 80 and the Four Preludes and Fugues op. 85, from March 1905 onwards Reger mentioned several times to Karl Straube and Walter Fischer the prospect of a “a new organ work of high caliber by the autumn” 1. But by July he had to postpone these plans because of overwork and a medically prescribed rest.2 Instead, he wrote a short organ piece entitled “Prelude and Fugue” around October/November for the publisher Otto Forberg, which was probably submitted to them on 4 November;3 the copyright agreement signed on 7 November4 gives the opus number as “92a” which, however, appeared on the manuscript without the “a”.

A possible expansion of this opus, for example by the addition of some more movements fell victim to a gruelling winter of concerts5, time consuming work on compositions (e.g., from the end of February 1906 on the Serenade in G major for orchestra op. 95) and Reger’s recurring health problems. Only on 28 May 1906 was he able to write to Forberg, now giving the final title: “You will receive the pieces which are still missing from the Suite for organ op 92 from me soon, at any rate early enough for the Suite op 92 to be comfortably published on 1. Sept. a.c. [annus currens = current year] If I had not been ill, you would have received the pieces much earlier.” (Letter) The compositional process of the other movements of the suite has not survived in Reger’s correspondence.

2. Publication

On 22 July 1906, shortly before his departure on holiday, Reger sent the publisher Otto Forberg the missing pieces 3 to 7 of the Suite (see Composition) by registered post. Just two days later he signed the copyright agreement at Prien am Chiemsee.6 There are no records of the correction stages. On 26 September the publishers announced the work as a new publication, hot off the press, in the Signale für die Musikalische Welt. Contrary to Reger’s practice with other works, there is no mention of the publication of the Suite in surviving correspondence, nor of potential interpreters.7 In addition Reger did not dedicate the work.8

3.

Translation by Elizabeth Robinson.

1
Letter dated 28 March 1905 to Walter Fischer, in Arbeitsbriefe 1, p. 158. – Reger had already written to Karl Straube on 19 March for the first time in similar fashion (see letter in Straube-Briefe, p. 83).
2
“When will you receive something new for organ again? Yes – give me time, then a piece will be there straightaway! Whether it’s still possible this year – – I doubt it – for I must take 6 weeks holiday on doctor’s orders!” (Letter dated 24 July 1905 to Karl Straube, in Straube-Briefe, p. 94).
3
See the registered letter documented in Reger’s Postbuch 2 (postal receipt book), fol. 70. Reger first established contact with the publisher Otto Forberg in October 1904, first submitting a work to them in May 1905 with the Two Compositions for violin and piano op. 87.
4
Copyright agreement for “Praeludium und Fuge für Orgel Opus 92a”, Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig, collection of the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel, No. 7344.
5
“[…] my life in winter takes place in railway carriages and concert halls!” (Postcard dated 21 October 1905 to Arnold Schering, last listed: private collection, copy in the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, shelf number: Ep. X. 2658).
6
Copyright agreement relating to numbers 3 to 7 of the Suite in G minor op. 92, Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig, collection of the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel, No. 7344.
7
In the surviving letters to Karl Straube, Walter Fischer and Richard Jung there is no mention of op. 92. Neither is the recently published Suite contained in a list of new autumn publications which Reger sent to the Swiss conductor Volkmar Andreae on 3 October 1906 and which also includes, for example, the song collections opp. 97 and 98 (see postcard, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Handschriften- und Musikabteilung, shelf number: Mus NL 076; L 678).
8
As well as the organ works without opus number, other works without dedications were limited to the Twelve Pieces op. 59 and the collection of supplements op. 79b.

1. Reception

At present, there are no records of performances in Reger's time.

1. Stemma

Die in Klammern gesetzten Quellen sind verschollen.
Die in Klammern gesetzten Quellen sind verschollen.

2. Quellenbewertung

Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Als zusätzliche Quelle wurde die autographe Stichvorlage herangezogen.

3. Sources

    Object reference

    Max Reger: Suite in G minor op. 92, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00109.html, last check: 4th May 2024.

    Information

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