Roelof Temmingh’s music for organ

Abstract

Abstract Numerous church organists, concert performers and composers have contributed to the long and proud tradition of organ music in South Africa. Amongst them the composer Roelof Temmingh represents a voice that has not yet been given the recognition that it deserves. His compositional output in the field of liturgical music is small, but his two organ concertos as well as the concert piece Chant d’éloge must rank amongst the finest and most significant contributions to the field of secular South African organ music. This article discusses all Temmingh’s organ works, examines the circumstances of their origin and provides brief formal and stylistic analyses of each.

Opsomming

Talle kerk- en konsertorreliste en komponiste het tot die lang en trotse tradisie van orrelmusiek in Suid-Afrika bygedra. Binne hierdie tradisie verteenwoordig die komponis Roelof Temmingh ’n stem wat nog nie die erkenning geniet wat dit verdien nie. Op die gebied van liturgiese musiek is sy bydrae beperk, maar sy twee orrelkonserte sowel as die konsertstuk Chant d’éloge is sekerlik van Winfried Lüdemann is an Emeritus Professor of Musicology at Stellenbosch University and former Chair of the Department of Music. He has published widely on a diverse range of topics, including South African music and a biography of the German composer Hugo Distler (Augsburg, 2002). He has a keen interest in the music of Roelof Temmingh and has written several articles on this composer, including the respective contributions to the new Grove Encyclopaedia of Music and Musicians and the German encyclopaedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Tel. 082 865 0040 Email: wl@sun.ac.za 69 die belangrikste bydraes op die terrein van sekulêre Suid-Afrikaanse orrelmusiek. Hierdie artikel bespreek al Temmingh se orrelwerke, ondersoek hulle ontstaansgeskiedenis en verskaf kort vorm- en stylanalises van elk.