Organ Repertoire

Sacred Music Answers for your Parish

Works by Genre

A brief list of accessible organ works for parish organists. This resource is designed for quick access, primarily to works in the public domain (U.S.).

Beginner Studies

Method Books ($)

Ritchie/Stauffer: Organ Technique, Modern & Early
Leupold: First Organ Book
Stainer: Complete Organ Method
Gleason: Method of Organ Playing

 

American Guild of Organists

Video Lessons for the New Organist

 

Manual Techniques (in addition to methods above)

Parkhurst Method (p.19-ff)

 

Pedal Exercises

Parkhurst Method (p.2-ff)
Bach, Pedal Exercitium, BWV 598

 

Repertoire

Krebs/J.S. Bach
Eight Preludes and Fugues
Suggested order: F, B-flat, d, g, G, a, C, e

Buxtehude
Toccata in F Major

Frescobaldi
Fiori Musicali

Merkel
Short Preludes, a minor (#8)

Lefébure-Wély
Vade Mecum de L’Organiste

Lemmens
L’Ècole d’orgue (Pt 1. Manuals only)
Pt 2. with Pedal

Guilmant
Ave Maria

Stanley
Voluntaries, Op. 5
Voluntaries, Op. 6
Voluntaries, Op. 7

Gregorian Chant-based

Liturgical

Lent

***N.B. Solo Organ music is not permitted during Lenten Liturgies.  Lenten organ music can be used well for concerts or devotions.

 

J.S. Bach, Chorales/Orgelbüchlein

O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig

Christe, du Lamm Gottes

Christus, der uns selig macht

Christus, der uns selig macht

Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund

O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß

Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ

Hilf Gott, daß mir’s gelinge

 

Nibelle Lent – Holy Thursday

Works by Composer

A brief list of esteemed organ works categorized by composer. 

Olivier Messiaen

Although the music of Messiaen is still primarily under copyright, it is worth noting that he composed nearly 100 works for the organ.  These works feature exciting harmonies, in part due to the composer’s synethesia and spiritual focus.  

Although it may not always be suitable or practical to play the works of Messiaen in the Sacred Liturgy, one cannot deny his music as spiritually incomparable, true art, particularly in its depiction of Roman Catholic Theology.

A list of music is given here, in order to further an appreciation of Messiaen’s great legacy of organ music. 

 

L’Ascension (1934)

  1. Majesté du Christ demandant sa gloire à son Père
  2. Alléluias sereins d’une âme qui désire le ciel
  3. Transports de joie d’une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne
  4. Prière du Christ montant vers son Père    
  5. Le Banquet Céleste (1926/28?)
  6. Apparition de l’Église éternelle (1932) (IMSLP Score)
  7. Diptyque (1930) 

La Nativité du Seigneur (1935)

  1. La Vierge et l’Enfant
  2. Les Bergers
  3. Desseins éternels
  4. Le Verbe
  5. Les Enfants de Dieu
  6. Les Anges
  7. Jésus accepte la Souffrance
  8. Les Mages
  9. Dieu parmi nous

Les Corps glorieux (1939)

  1. Subtilité des corps glorieux
  2. Les Eaux de la grâce
  3. L’Ange aux parfums
  4. Combat de la mort et de la vie
  5. Force et agilité des corps glorieux
  6. Joie et clarté des corps glorieux
  7. Le Mystère de la sainte Trinité 

Messe de la Pentecôte (1950)

  1. Entrée (Les langues de feu).
  2. Offertoire (Les choses visibles et invisibles).
  3. Consécration (Le don de Sagesse).
  4. Communion (Les oiseaux et les sources).
  5. Sortie (Le vent de l’Esprit).

Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité (1969)

  1. Le Père inengendré
  2. La Sainteté de Jésus Christ
  3. La relation réelle en Dieu est réellement identique à l’essence
  4. Je suis, Je suis !
  5. Dieu est Immense, Éternel, Immuable – Le souffle de l’Esprit – Dieu est Amour
  6. Le Fils, Verbe et Lumière
  7. Le Père et le Fils aiment par le Saint-Esprit eux-mêmes et nous
  8. Dieu est simple
  9. Je suis Celui qui suis

    Livre du Saint-Sacrement (1984) 

    1. Adore te
    2. La Source de Vie
    3. Le Dieu caché
    4. Acte de Foi
    5. Puer natus est nobis
    6. La manne et le Pain de Vie
    7. Les ressuscités et la lumière de Vie
    8. Institution de l’Eucharistie
    9. Les ténèbres
    10. La Résurrection du Christ
    11. L’apparition du Christ ressuscité à Marie-Madeleine
    12. La Transsubstantiation
    13. Les deux murailles d’eau
    14. Prière avant la communion
    15. La joie de la grâce
    16. Prière après la communion
    17. La Présence multipliée
    18. Offrande et Alleluia final

      Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace (1960)

    Monodie (1963?) 

    Offrande au Saint Sacrement (1930/35)

    Prélude (1928?)

    Livre D’Orgue (1951-2)

    1. “Reprise par interversion” (Permuted repeats).
    2. “Pièce en trio I” (First trio).
    3. “Les mains de l’abîme” (The hands of the abyss).
    4. “Chants d’oiseaux” (Bird songs).
    5. “Pièce en trio II” (Second trio).
    6. “Les yeux dans les roues” (The eyes on the wheels).
    7. “Soixante-quatre durées”

    CMAA
    &
    IMSLP

    Free scores are generously provided by the Petrucci Music Library.

    Content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Used by permission.

    The Pipe Organ is esteemed as the “King of Instruments” and and after the voice, holds chief place in the Sacred Liturgy.

    “The organ has always been considered, and rightly so, the king of musical instruments, because it takes up all the sounds of creation… and gives resonance to the fullness of human sentiments, from joy to sadness, from praise to lamentation. By transcending the merely human sphere, as all music of quality does, it evokes the divine.

    The organ’s great range of timbre, from piano through to a thundering fortissimo, makes it an instrument superior to all others. It is capable of echoing and expressing all the experiences of human life. The manifold possibilities of the organ in some way remind us of the immensity and the magnificence of God.”

    Pope Benedict XVI

    “Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs.”

    Psalm 150