Organ Recital - Anna Steppler

To be given by Anna Steppler
Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951), Church bells beyond the stars
Maddalena Casulana (1544-1590), O notte, O cielo, O mare
J S Bach (1685-1750), Prelude in C Minor BWV 546, i
Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931), Hell und Dunkel
J.S. Bach, Fugue in Minor BWV 546, ii
Florence B. Price (1887-1953), Variations on a Folksong ('Peter, go ring them bells')
Anna Steppler is a Research Fellow in Music at Peterhouse, Cambridge. She received her Ph.D. in Musicology from Cornell University (December 2022) for her dissertation “Michael Praetorius, the Organ, and the Possibilities of Instrumental Music,” which argues for the organ’s pivotal role in discussions of instrumental music in Lutheran courtly circles before the Thirty Years’ War. From earthly technological marvel to ethereal evocation of heavenly music, the organ forced a consideration of the inherent theological and cultural value of (textless) instruments. Her work was supported by a Fellowship from the Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbüttel, Germany), and was awarded Cornell’s Donald J. Grout Memorial Prize for an exceptional dissertation in Music. In addition to turning this work into a monograph, she is also eager to continue her research on the musical instrument as a site of cultural knowledge, ideals, and exploration, beginning a new project centering the role of women (and institution) in twentieth-century organ culture.
She holds a first-class degree in Music from Merton College, Oxford, where she was organ scholar from 2010-2013, and a Masters degree on the Organ from Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden, where she was awarded the Carl Larsson Scholarship for Music. She has presented at conferences in the US and Europe, and published her research in the Journal of Musicology and The Organ Yearbook. She is an active recitalist and organist, and deeply committed to expanding the organ’s repertory to include under-represented voices.
The Dobson Organ in Merton College Chapel is one of the finest mechanical action organs in the UK.
Built by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Iowa, USA, and installed in 2013, in readiness for the College’s 750th celebrations in 2014, the organ consists of 44 ranks over three manuals. The specification encourages the performance of a wide repertoire, and the organ sounds equally thrilling in music from the baroque era as it does in the great romantic masterworks.
Lunchtime recitals are held every Thursday during Michaelmas and Trinity terms, and are free to attend.
Many of the world's finest organists have given concerts on the Dobson Organ including John Scott (who opened the instrument), Olivier Latry, James O'Donnell, Paul Jacobs, Thomas Trotter, Martin Baker, Stephen Farr, Margaret Phillips, Thomas Ospital, Simon Johnson, Robert Quinney, Sarah Baldock and Katherine Dienes-Williams.