Dr. Richard K. Fitzgerald knows how his coming program of organ improvisations on the Stations of the Cross is likely to start, but what happens after that will in part be up to the audience.
“Every improvisation is music created specifically for the time and place where it’s happening and the people who are listening,” Fitzgerald said. “It provides a very interactive connection between the improviser and the audience. I may not be able to see their faces but I can sense how they’re responding to the first part of the improvisation and extemporize from that.
“The bones are there and you build a structure from that. It’s the same kind of thing a stand-up comic might do – ‘reading the room’ and adjusting.”
The free program will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 17 in Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral, 212 E. Broad St. Fitzgerald has been the cathedral’s music director for nine years and this will be his third straight year of improvising on the Stations.
“With improvisation, every program is different, so anyone who has been to either of the first two will be hearing something new. Nothing is written down. I have some ideas to explore with each station, but there’s plenty of room for spontaneity and expanding on those parameters in the moment,” he said.
“For instance, the first station, Jesus is condemned to death, is likely to incorporate familiar Lenten hymns such as ‘O Sacred Head,’ ‘Were You There?’ ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’ and ‘What Wondrous Love is This?’“
“Every organ is different, and one of the features of this 2006 Fritts Grand Gallery mechanical-action organ is the way the stops can be pulled in and out very slowly, creating a very eerie effect that provides the kind of groaning, moaning sounds that vividly depict the agony and horror of Christ’s crucifixion,” he said.
“Part of what inspired me to do my first improvisation on the Stations three years ago and to continue the programs is the hope that it will deepen the listeners’ personal faith and enable people to see the Stations from a different perspective, preparing them for Easter. Like all sacred music, its ultimate purpose is the glory of God and the salvation of souls.”