Offertoire (13 Original Compositions No. 06)

For those of you who like British organ music of the recent past Erzahler and I are uploading these 13 short pieces. Composed around 1909 they vary a bit in their complexity and demands on the player and were dedicated to Mrs E Grose Hodge, Holy Trinity Rectory, Marlebone, London.

Hugh Blair (25 May 1864 – 22 July 1932) was an English musician, composer and organist. Born in Worcester, he was the son of Rev. Robert Hugh Blair, who founded Worcester College for the Blind in 1866. A chorister at Worcester Cathedral and a pupil at The King's School, Worcester, Blair was organ scholar at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. 1886, Mus.B. 1887, M.A. 1896 and Mus.D. 1906.

He was Organist of Worcester Cathedral from 1895 to 1897, having been Acting Organist before that time. Edward Elgar dedicated his cantata "The Black Knight" to Blair, who was conductor of the Worcester Festival Choral Society.

Worcester Cathedral Library contains copies of Blair's compositions, and his splendid Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B minor for double choir is in the repertoire of every cathedral choir, and is still often performed and recorded.

"Offertoire" is an oddly named piece, as it doesn't have much in common with the "usual" offertory. It's a real tour de force, and you'll need to have quick hands and feet, and be able to manage some big reaches on the fly. The music has strong resemblance to the great Elgar "Sonata in G," written in 1893, and premiered by Blair at Worcester.

Once again, the format is A-B-A. The opening and closing sections consisting of a brisk "con moto," with racing scales and big-fisted chords. The central section is more lyrical, but there is still a bit of a "swagger" to it. The opening material is returned to, via the way of an accelerating cadenza, coming straight out of the slow section and working back into the opening dashing waves of the first section.

The score and photos are attached below.