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Draconis
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I've been fixing up an old reed organ, and would love to play some of Bach's organ works on it; for example, I've had my eye on the chorale prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 645).

The problem is, these pieces were generally written for one or two manualshands plus a pedalboard, and this organ doesn't have a pedalboard (you need your feet to pump the bellows).

I know this means I won't be able to play the piece quite as Bach intended it. But there are plenty of keyboard instruments out there that don't have pedalboards. Are there good general rules for adapting a piece from three voices to two like this? Or will it take a good arranger to figure it out on a piece-by-piece or section-by-section basis?

P.S. Here's an excerpt from this particular piece, if it helps. It's marked canto firmo in Tenore, so presumably I shouldn't sacrifice the left hand part.

a few bars of BWV 645

I've been fixing up an old reed organ, and would love to play some of Bach's organ works on it; for example, I've had my eye on the chorale prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 645).

The problem is, these pieces were generally written for one or two manuals plus a pedalboard, and this organ doesn't have a pedalboard (you need your feet to pump the bellows).

I know this means I won't be able to play the piece quite as Bach intended it. But there are plenty of keyboard instruments out there that don't have pedalboards. Are there good general rules for adapting a piece from three voices to two like this? Or will it take a good arranger to figure it out on a piece-by-piece or section-by-section basis?

P.S. Here's an excerpt from this particular piece, if it helps. It's marked canto firmo in Tenore, so presumably I shouldn't sacrifice the left hand part.

a few bars of BWV 645

I've been fixing up an old reed organ, and would love to play some of Bach's organ works on it; for example, I've had my eye on the chorale prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 645).

The problem is, these pieces were generally written for two hands plus a pedalboard, and this organ doesn't have a pedalboard (you need your feet to pump the bellows).

I know this means I won't be able to play the piece quite as Bach intended it. But there are plenty of keyboard instruments out there that don't have pedalboards. Are there good general rules for adapting a piece from three voices to two like this? Or will it take a good arranger to figure it out on a piece-by-piece or section-by-section basis?

P.S. Here's an excerpt from this particular piece, if it helps. It's marked canto firmo in Tenore, so presumably I shouldn't sacrifice the left hand part.

a few bars of BWV 645

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Draconis
  • 271
  • 1
  • 7

Are there general rules for playing a three-voice organ piece without pedals?

I've been fixing up an old reed organ, and would love to play some of Bach's organ works on it; for example, I've had my eye on the chorale prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 645).

The problem is, these pieces were generally written for one or two manuals plus a pedalboard, and this organ doesn't have a pedalboard (you need your feet to pump the bellows).

I know this means I won't be able to play the piece quite as Bach intended it. But there are plenty of keyboard instruments out there that don't have pedalboards. Are there good general rules for adapting a piece from three voices to two like this? Or will it take a good arranger to figure it out on a piece-by-piece or section-by-section basis?

P.S. Here's an excerpt from this particular piece, if it helps. It's marked canto firmo in Tenore, so presumably I shouldn't sacrifice the left hand part.

a few bars of BWV 645