Improvisations will be a great attraction of the organ performance by Julian Gembalski. The rest of the programme will be filled with masterpieces of the Baroque and Romantic eras – compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 562 is a dark and austere piece. The history of its creation is quite surprising. The first movement – Fantasia – was written by Bach during his stay in Weimar from 1708–1717. The unfinished fugue was added much later – in 1745. Researchers disagree as to whether it is really the work of Bach. Some have hypothesized that one of his students or sons wrote it. We will probably never know the right answer and why this composition was not finished. The next work in the programme will be the Organ Sonata No. 1 in F minor op. 65 by Mendelssohn. This German composer of the Romantic era was one of the great admirers and promoters of Bach’s music, who at the beginning of the 19th century was a practically forgotten composer. This prompted Hector Berlioz to make a malicious and inaccurate remark about Mendelssohn that ‘he had spent too much time studying the music of the dead.’

César Franck is another great Romantic. He was valued as a composer, teacher and organist, and the place of his employment in this capacity was the Basilica of St. Clotilde in Paris. In 19th-century France, the art of organ building developed dynamically, which also influenced the style of the pieces written for this instrument, including the monumental works of Franck. One of them is the Pièce héroïque FWV 37, which will be heard during the concert. The programme will be crowned by Gembalski’s improvisations.