u/RalphL1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZBSYy7ww6w

It's always nice to find a new composer, even when I found only one composition from him. The only information I could find about German composer (and probably organist) Ernst G. Hirschfeld is that he was born on 11 October, 1830 in Grossnordsee, Holstein, Germany. Although he lived in the Romantic era, this chorale prelude on the hymn 'Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit' feels more classical or at least early romantic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TMDeV_UmDM

This Polonaise in G minor is part of the Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach, the wife of Johann Sebastian Bach. The composer is anonymous although it is also dedicated to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. A simple, but very effective piece, especially on organ I think. The organ is very capable of depicting the bold character of this piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnCmfhOBs98
Johann Michael Bach was second-uncle (and then posthumously) father-in-law of Johann Sebastian Bach, because he was the father of Bach's first wife Maria Barbara. He came (like almost any Bach) from a musical family, his father Heinrich Bach and his brother Johann Christoph Bach were both active organists and composers. He was born in Arnstadt and became the organist and town clerk of Gehren, where he lived until his death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpcJnB0iDlM

This is not the only work by Bach without a clear context. There are dozens of them, certainly within the organ repertoire. However, few pieces underwent such a dramatic twist as this one. With no handwritten source by Bach, Machs mit mir Gott, nach deiner Güt was regarded for many years as a fugue. It was even undecided whether it was a fugue for harpsichord or organ. That is until the discovery in New York, in 1985, of the Neumeister Sammlung, which contained an extra long version of BWV 957 among all sorts of other hitherto unknown works by Bach (and other composers).

Even more exciting is that in this source the fugue is followed seamlessly by a setting of the chorale Machs mit mir, Gott, nach deiner Güt. The experts soon set to puzzling it out and what do you know – the chorale melody is present throughout the work, although well concealed in the decorative fugue theme. Although eyes are more useful than ears in this case, listen carefully to each ‘heavy’ beat of the bar. This really is a chorale arrangement. It is a unique piece – or did Bach write more fugues using this technique?

In the words of the hymn arranged by Bach, Johann Schein (one of Bach’s predecessors in Leipzig) was thinking about the end of life. To us, this may seem a melancholy theme, but for Baroque congregations death was a doorway to heaven, which you could confidently open with God at your side. Cheerful music was therefore quite suitable, certainly for a closing line like ‘Herr, in deine Händ’, ist alles gut, wenn gut das End’.
(source: All of Bach)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHWw1PyBYrw

Thomas Babou was a composer and organist who lived and worked in Liège. Unfortunately we know very little about him. He was organist at the Collégiale Saint-Jean-l'Évangéliste de Liège, at least from 1687 until 1726. Thanks to his son Jean-François-Pascal Babou many pieces of father Thomas survived. Babou's music contains French and Italian influences.

Bach - Fuge in D-Dur / D Major, BWV 580 - Schnitger organ, Martinikerk, Groningen, Hauptwerk

Although this fugue has been attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach in the past, Bach's authorship of this work is uncertain. It has some nice moments, but also has some odd parts. I used a registration in which the reeds of this organ are most dominant.