A fact from Sieben Stücke, Op. 145 appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 4 March 2017 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that in seven last pieces for organ, Sieben Stücke, Op. 145, Max Reger quotes Lutheran chorales and a patriotic anthem?
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One of the main authorities on Reger's organ music (even at conference in Europe) is Chrisopher Anderson. In this article I have added much of the content and might add more. However, if Gerda wants to reject sources, she must explain to me why she is doing so. She has previously made negative remarks about Christopher Anderson, which I have not understood. I have spent about 12 hours trying to locate a recording of "Ostern" and have just succeeded. Here Gerda is playing her "descent into trivia" game. A few days ago trying to explain the use of simple terms like "Lutheran chorale" was made into an uphill battle by Gerda. Yet it appeared in the DYK which copied my own paraphrase of Anderson. I worked hard to find the euphemism "partiotic anthem". Careful thought was involved and I suggest Gerda please show some respect for that instead of rolling over me like a German tank. Thanks, Mathsci (talk) 13:02, 5 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I have added a link to the "Ostern" recording (broadcast on public radio in the US). I have no idea why it was so hard to find a publicly available recording of this piece, since in the 2016 Reger centenary year it was frequently performed all over Germany. "Siegesfeier" was also tricky. Mathsci (talk) 13:26, 5 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I have had to remove the publicly available rendition of "Siegesfeier" as it departed from the markings in the score in a quite horrific way, repeating the anthem in full at the close, ignoring legato markings and sombre dynamics, adding fanfare like repeats on the sustained cadential chords, etc. Perhaps this was a "joke" performance. Mathsci (talk) 15:48, 5 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I don't recall to have criticized Anderson, but I believe that when he refers to "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", we can abbreviate that for English-speaking readers by Deutschlandlied. That's what I tried to do here. I also believe that the full incipit is not needed as we deal with organ music, without words. The melody is by Haydn. - Can we agree that "Lutheran hymn" is a good term for what he used but no translation of "evangelisch", which was my only point of criticism? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:29, 5 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Anderson writes: "The Dankpsalm is particularly effective, dedicated 'to the German army' and comprising two large musical arches, the first culminating in a setting of Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, the second, beginning with the same music as the first, in Lobe den Herren. Those who can move beyond the Dankpsalm’s obvious display of Teutonic patriotism will perceive the astuteness with which its two chorales are brought into conversation: the acceptance of divine will in the first is answered by praise of the omnipotent God in the second, a commentary on the sacrifice of war in a Job-like perspective. The final piece is perhaps the most difficult to hear today, a musically effective yet conceptually naïve paroxysm on military victory, obviously premature, that employs Nun danket alle Gott on the way to Deutschland, Deutschland über alles."
You created problems when Anderson's quote about Dankpsalm was first included in Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan (before you created this article). You thought that the biblical reference to Job would not be understood by English-speaking readers. That may be the case. However, allreaders would know the German national anthem as "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" not as the Deutschlandlied (which they would not recognize). Siegesfeier was for a long time extremely unpopular amongst English-speaking organists; it was revived by Brian Runnett (a champion of Reger) and recorded by Roger Judd when he was assistant organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor. The taboo resulted from perceived triumphalism: the Naxos liner notes describe the piece as "appalling"; perhaps you know the English equivalent "jingoism" which is also frowned upon. The "Emperor" string quartet is known to me (and I assume many people who have had some musical training) but is not mentioned by Anderson. I doubt very much that Reger included the melody in Siegesfeier as a reference to the charming world of late eighteenth century Vienna.
Did you hear any of these pieces performed in 2016? I know they were recorded in the splendid Lutherkirche in Wiesbaden. Mathsci (talk) 07:38, 6 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
If - as you claim - "allreaders would know the German national anthem as "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" not as the Deutschlandlied", then the article Deutschlandlied should be moved. We should use the common name. I am often - and here - unsure what is common in English, please understand.
The term national anthem should not be used for Reger (and thank you again for "patriotic song") because it wasn't the national anthem during his lifetime, nor is it the national anthem at present ("Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" is, as you will know.) I am sorry to have missed the performances, but heard many other concerts in the church, including the Thomanerchor in 2016 and Der 100. Psalm, and I once sang Bach's Kreuzstabkantata and Mozart's Requiem, - before the restoration, so looking less splendid, but remembered as a great concert. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:14, 6 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
