Leib und Körper Premiere

Commissioned for the dedication of the new three-manual tracker organ by Jaeckel, Inc. from Duluth, Minnesota, Leib und Körper, two movements for trombone and organ (2015) will receive its world premiere during the 2015 American Guild of Organists Mid-Atlantic Regional Convention, at the New Organ Dedication Concert at the Chapel of Holy Spirit at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Written as a way of acknowledging the installation of the new organ on Duquesne campus and honoring the memory of the university founders from Germany, the piece will be premiered by Dr. Edward Kocher, the William Patrick Power Endowed Faculty Chair in Academic Leadership and Dr. Ann Labounsky, Professor and Chair of Organ and Sacred Music.

Leib und Körper is constructed in two movements that in turn express two aspects of the body, the first meditative, inward, subjective and the second physical, exuberant, objective. The title of the work comes from the writings of the German phenomenologist philosopher, Hermann Schmitz (b. 1928). The first movement, entitled “Lieb” denotes a personal body or corporeality, suggesting cognitive, inner and immediate affective states; the second movement, entitled “Körper” refers to the idea of a physical body, suggesting more conative, perceptual, and visceral experiences. Together, the two movements suggest invite a unique musical contemplation, or to paraphrase Schmitz, a lived musical experience of “feeling and corporeality.”

Performances: Saturday, June 20 at 8 pm and Sunday, June 28 at 3 pm The Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA