Weingarten Season: Christian Schmitt & Stuttgart Philharmonic

Organ as a Concert Instrument Among Johann Sebastian Bach's many organ works, the "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" is certainly one of the most famous. The impressive beginning of the Toccata and the virtuosity of the Fugue have repeatedly inspired arrangements. The American conductor Leopold Stokowski transferred the sublime sound of the church instrument to the possibilities of the large symphony orchestra. Christian Schmitt's concert version merges the original organ version with Stokowski's orchestration. Franz Liszt paid tribute to his colleague Giacomo Meyerbeer in the Fantasy and Fugue on the Choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam." The melody of the choral does not originate from a church context but from Meyerbeer's opera "Le Prophète," which Liszt particularly loved.