Charles Wesley (1757-1834): Fuga (Allegro moderato)(Voluntary No. 4 in G Major Part II)

Charles Wesley did not bother to have much of his output as a composer printed. Leading a comfortable bachelor's life without financial worries he faced no pressure in that respect and indeed it might have appeared somewhat at odds with his genteel lifestyle to "push" his music. In this he was very different from his younger brother Samuel. Effectively having to support two wives at once, plus numerous children from both, Samuel was forced to write music for publication -- and posterity must be deeply grateful for his chronic pennilessness.

(For the story of Charles see the video description of this video:    • Charles Wesley (1757-1834): Prelude & Fugu...   ; for that of Samuel:    • Samuel Wesley (1766-1837): Twelve Short Pi...   . Further information about the two is also found in other videos on this channel with music by the Wesley family:    • Music by the Wesley Family: Charles, Samue...   )

Charles did, in 1812 or thereabouts, issue a collection of his organ works containing about two dozen movements (not counting short connecting pieces). Grouped into six voluntaries many of them were obviously written well before. This video features the second of only two movements forming the fourth of these six voluntaries (Part I is here:    • Charles Wesley (1757-1834): Moderato (Volu...   ). Being limited to two movements makes No. 4 the shortest in the volume. It is also the only one that does not contain an organ arrangement of something by Handel. (George III employed Charles as his personal organist, and music by Handel was, apparently, pretty much the only thing the king wanted to hear. The king mostly stayed at Windsor Castle, so Wesley would play the organ in St George's Chapel. See this video:    • G.F. Händel/C. Wesley: Aria "Then Will I J...   for a description of such a performance by Fanny Burney.)

Wesley provides only haphazard playing instructions -- I suspect he just gave his manuscripts to the printer without bothering to check his markings for consistency. The section that I play on the upper manual is marked "piano"; and halfway through the fugue you are to change to "fortissimo" -- so presumably you were meant to play forte or mezzoforte before, apart from that piano passage. I felt it made sense to add stops three times rather than just once to underline the build-up obviously intended from one section of the fugue to the next.

The fugue is preceded by a short introduction to be played "on the diapasons".

The complete score of the Six Voluntaries has been edited by David Fitzpatrick (Fitzwilliam Music).

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