Vienna Cathedral Organist at ORGEL•PUNKT 12 at Basel Cathedral

Vienna Cathedral organist Ernst Wally performs arrangements of the Luther chorale “Our Father in Heaven” by Georg Böhm, Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Organ Sonata No. 6 in D minor), and Manfred Kluge. His “Nine Stanzas” bear witness to Kluge’s profound spiritual insight. The central themes of Manfred Kluge’s life, his death, and his music are summarized in his introduction to the organ work *Our Father in Heaven*—nine stanzas for organ, composed in 1963: “The same song melody (from Luther’s hymn of 1539) is used nine times. It is altered in the framing movements I (Invocation) and IX (Amen), and quoted in a disguised form in the inner stanzas, which represent the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.

1st Petition (for clarity)—free interplay of rhythmically breathing groups.

2nd Petition (for fulfillment)—a counter melody, emerging from the distance.

3rd Petition (for goodness)—vigorous motifs in rhythmic canons, in direct reflection and distortion. Interrupted twice by dark stillness.

4th Petition (for nourishment) – over a circling bass line (symbolizing measured time), a web of colorful figures, seemingly irrational, plays of light, pollen...

5. Plea (for freedom) – espressivo, a canon in the tritone (tonal symbol of a vice), pressing entries by the “comes.”

6. Plea (for Clarity) – frantic 5/8 rhythm, ostinato rotation, a chorale dragged along. A cry of “No.” Little solace.

7. Plea (for life, for love) – a stammering melody, somewhat erratic, soothing gestures in the harmonic counter-layers.”

Franz Schmidt’s virtuosic Toccata in C major serves as a festive finale.

Ernst Wally, born in Vienna in 1976, is a graduate of the Vienna Music High School. He studied organ (Franz Falter, Michael Radulescu), composition (Dietmar Schermann, Michael Jarrell, Frédéric Durieux), church music, and music education. After serving as a liturgical organist at various renowned churches in Vienna, he was appointed to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, initially as an assistant to the cathedral music director, then in 2010 as the full-time organist at St. Stephen’s, and in 2016 he was named cathedral organist at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.

Ernst Wally maintains an active international career as a concert organist; he has also performed on numerous occasions with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the Tonkünstler Orchestra, and has been engaged by the Society of Music Friends. Ernst Wally has composed works in a wide variety of genres. His works have been performed in various European countries and in Chile; he has received commissions from, among others, the “Carinthischer Sommer” festival.

Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.