The book has been on my shelf for fifteen or twenty years, since it was given to me (along with several bags of other musical books) by Mary Landrum, of blessed memory. I have finally read it, with delight; I wish that I had read it immediately, for it would have saved me some wrong turns along my path.
Wills was the Organist of Ely Cathedral from 1958 to 1990. In one volume, he sought to fulfill at least three purposes: a historical outline of the organ’s physical and tonal development, a historical survey of the music for the organ, and a course of study for learning to play the instrument.
It is this last which is of interest for today, though I recommend the book for its other contents as well, particularly for its emphasis on English music for the organ with suggested repertoire, a topic often neglected in books about organ music.
Wills begins this section (“Acquiring the Skills,” Part IV of the book) with an eight-page syllabus for three years of study, taking the beginner (granted, with the considerable piano fluency that he [and I] consider a prerequisite) from the easiest slow movements of the Mendelssohn sonatas to such works as the Messiaen Messe de la Pentecôte, the Bach Clavierübung Part III, the Liszt Ad nos (of which I wrote longingly a few weeks ago). I would add that it would be a student with unusual diligence and not insignificant talent who would attain this level (and learn all of this repertoire!) in three years. But the works that he lists are indeed the core repertoire that a student should learn, arranged in a good pedagogical order.
He devotes the rest of Part IV (pp. 186-242) to Organ Improvisation. And here, buried in the back of a volume where one might not expect such a topic, is a Treasure. Wills is the first author I have encountered who begins with what amounts to Species Counterpoint, leading to work modeled on French Classic examples such as the Titelouze hymn settings – which, one comes to realize, are not far removed from Species work, with the chant tune in long notes in the pedal, the other parts moving contrapuntally above it. From there, the student moves to chorale improvisation modeled on Buxtehude and Bach; then free improvisation, starting with two-part textures as one would find in the Voluntaries of John Stanley and his contemporaries, and on to binary and ternary forms, and the sonata form, using Haydn and Mozart as examples for all of this (minuets, slow movements, sonata-allegro movements). The final “exercise” in the book is the improvisation of a four-movement symphonic form using what has been studied: first movement in sonata form, slow movement in ternary form, scherzo in rondo form, finale consisting of introduction, fugue and toccata.
All this is to be accomplished in the three-year course of study, alongside all of that repertoire. And not to forget: choral accompaniment, to which he had earlier devoted a few pages, noting such works as the Stanford Magnificat in A major and the Duruflé Requiem as especially profitable for study.
I suspect that Wills expected this sort of discipline from his students at the Royal College of Music, and it is surely his work as a teacher that lies behind this volume. I conclude with a quotation from one of his students, Stephen Cleobury, the current Director of Music at Kings College, Cambridge:
Notwithstanding the possible disadvantages of ranging over too wide a field, many organists have displayed great versatility in carrying out many differing tasks assigned to them – solo performance, improvisation and accompaniment, choir-training and conducting, teaching and adjudicating, arranging and composing. Such is the daily round of the English cathedral organist, and there are many musicians now at work in all branches of the profession who have reason to be grateful to this tradition and its guardians for their early training. I shall always value the insights that I gained as a pupil of Dr. Wills… (from the Foreward: p. 9)
I see from Amazon that the most recent edition of the book is 2001. My copy is the 1985 edition; I suspect that any edition would be suitable, and that older copies may be found at minimal expense on used-book sites.
Organ, by Arthur Wills (Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides)
Schirmer Books, 1985
ISBN 0-02-872850-5
(paperback: 256 pages)
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