Méditation sur le chorale "Tout passe ici-bas"

Wilhelm Middelschulte (1863–1943) was a German organist and composer who resided in America for most of his career.

Middelschulte initially studied organ with August Knabe. He later attended the Royal Academic Institute for Church Music in Berlin, where he studied organ and theory with August Haupt. After briefly holding a position at the Royal Institute and acquiring a post at St. Luke Church in Berlin, he moved to Chicago in 1891. In 1893, he gave three performances entirely from memory at the Columbian Exposition. From 1896 - 1918 he was organist for what would later become the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During the 1920s, he regularly returned to his native Germany to give performances.

He is regarded as one of the most significant organists of his time, and was critically acclaimed for his performances of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1939, after nearly fifty years in America, Middelschulte returned to Germany, where he died only four years later. His students included Virgil Fox and Cecilia Clare Bocard. [Extract from Wikipedia]

His Meditation (for organ or reed organ) treats the chorale "Tout passe ici-bas" (Alle Menschen müssen sterben) "In Canone alla Duodecima" in the bass and soprano, accompanied by motives of sighs in alto and tenor (three against two). In the second part the inversion of the melody is also treated "in Canone alla Duodecima".

The score is in Vol. 6 of Joubert's Maîtres contemporains de l’orgue. I have attached the two pages.

This seems to be the first recording of music by Middelschulte on CCH.