Tripartita for organ (op. 12, 1955)
I. Ostinato, II. Fantasia, III. Toccata
Organ
Duration: 11 minutes
Max Kempf
N. Simrock Hamburg-London (Boosey & Hawkes) ISMN M-2211-1335-1
in a letter to Simrock on 25.9.1971: 1st movement tempo indication: quarter note = 152
in a letter to Larry D. Crummer 1981: 1st movement tempo indication: crotchet note = 172 / 2nd movement: quaver note = 76-88 depending on room acoustics / 3rd movement: the last two bars pesante and big ritardando - long fermata!
The brief "Tripartita " begins swiftly with a harmonic movement that is spread out over a striking pedal line in its interrupted syllabic rests. The formal structural device is the foundation line; it adds further intervals to a three-note motif until the pre-planned sum is reached after a stretch of twenty-one bars. Boris Blacher's technique of variable metres comes to mind. The slow middle movement arises from the combination of triple thematic material. While the harmonic colouring dominates at the beginning, it is now above all the succinctly drawn melodic contour that dominates. Through manifold interchanges and inversions, new perspectives of the same idea open up again and again. The third movement is a fast movement with repeated notes and octave displacements in the manual and, apart from the end, is in one voice. The new work captivates with its fresh, unspent inventiveness. The details of the formal design are quite original and do not use a worn-out template, and the sometimes very sharpened sounds are positioned with such economy that their necessity is believed at first hearing.
H.L. Schilling
Literature list of the German Music Council for the competition "Jugend musiziert": Level of difficulty 3-4/ medium-difficult-difficult (intermediate level I-II)
The Tripartita op. 12 was composed between 1 and 10 October 1955 and consists of three movements - fast-slow-fast - based on the creative principle of variable metre. Block-like structures predominate in the 1st movement, while arioso elements with short motifs dominate the 2nd movement. The almost monophonic toccata-like finale rounds off the work with virtuosity.
Bertold Hummel
Bertold Hummel composed the Tripartita for organ in 1955 and it consists of three movements: Ostinato, Fantasia and Toccata.
The first movement is not only based on a melodic motif that develops from a germ cell of 2 notes and is constantly repeated, but also on a sequence of 3/4 - 5/4 - 7/4, which is maintained in this arrangement from beginning to end. (double ostinato)
In the Fantasia, the quiet second movement, a meditative melody frames three differently structured verses.
The virtuoso Toccata is characterised by the rapid repetitions of notes, which can only be played on an excellent organ. Characteristic here are the bar units that shorten by one beat and then grow again - clearly audible in the pedal motif.
Josef Trompke
The Tripartita is committed to repetition and variation technique. This is made clear by the first movement's designation Ostinato. Chord layers and runs alternate here over a recurring time signature (3, 5, 7). The harmonic elements of the first part are also used in the fantasia, which works with a few, very small rhythmic motifs. A pedal motif, which is altered by shortening the bar, and a sequence of runs that spread across the entire manual range by enlarging the bar are the building blocks of the final, virtuoso toccata.
Christian Weiherer (in the booklet of the CD "Orgelportrait St. Michael, Aichstetten)