Piping Up! Organ Concerts at Temple Square is streamed online every Wednesday at 12:00 noon MDT. Piping Up! can be viewed on TheTabernacleChoir.org, the Choir’s YouTube channel, the Choir’s Facebook page, and Broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org. When concerts are concluded, they are available for on-demand viewing on the Choir’s website, YouTube and Facebook.

These programs continue the tradition of noon organ recitals at Temple Square—a tradition that has lasted for more than a century. The concerts are produced without an audience and comply with all COVID-19 guidelines. Each concert will feature a different Tabernacle or Temple Square organist and is hosted by Luke Howard.

Repertoire

Organist: Andrew Unsworth

1. Prelude in F Minor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Johann Sebastian Bach
2. a Lied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Vierne
b. Nimrod^†. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Edward Elgar
3. a. Hymn: Come, Come, Ye Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . arr. by organist
b. An Old Melody: Nearer, My God, to Thee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .arr. by organist
4. Exultemus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Percy Whitlock

^† LISTENER REQUESTED SELECTION Go to the Piping Up! web page to make your request!

Focus Piece

An on-going feature of Piping Up! Organ Concerts at Temple Square is a focus piece with additional inspirational background on a specific repertoire selection. Written by host Luke Howard, a professor of music at Brigham Young University, the focus piece connects the music in a unique way to lift and inspire listeners.

“Prelude in F minor,” BWV 534.i (J. S. Bach)

Today’s concert opens with the Prelude in F minor, from BWV 534, by J. S. Bach. Or, maybe not by Bach—this is one of those organ works whose authorship is disputed. But what if documentary evidence emerged to show that this organ prelude was, in fact, not composed by Bach, but someone else? How would that change our experience of the music itself? Would we value it less?

These are the kinds of questions that come up regularly in the arts industry. Every couple of years, a scholar somewhere claims to have evidence that Shakespeare’s plays weren’t actually written by Shakespeare. Uncertainties about whether a painting really is by Rembrandt, or Picasso, can alter the value exponentially, by millions of dollars. A string quartet once thought to have been composed by Haydn is proved to be a misattribution, and so is then quickly forgotten. These are important questions—making a correct attribution and clarifying the historical record are essential tasks.

But art’s real, lasting value is in the way it moves us, and teaches us; how it guides and shapes our thoughts, how it feeds our spirits. Its monetary value, on the other hand, is entirely dependent on the artist’s current fame. To put it another way, is the Prelude in F Minor a valuable piece of music? Or is it only valuable if it was actually by Bach, and merely mediocre if it turned out to be written by one of his students instead?

We need to choose where we place our focus—on the beauty, or the brand. We need to cultivate the ability to recognize truth, goodness, virtue, not by the celebrity endorsements or associations with a “big name.” If we’re really seeking to be spiritually edified, we will look not “on the outward appearance,” but “on the heart.”¹ Then we’ll recognize beauty in the arts, no matter whose name is attached to it. And we’ll recognize truth, independent of popularity and labels.

1. I Samuel 16:7.