Sonate in d-moll über O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a gifted organ improviser, yet there exist only a few traces of his improvisational art. One of these will be found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. A short fragment on the chorale “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” is preserved here which probably originated during the great Bach concert which Mendelssohn presented at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig in 1840. Robert Schumann reported in detail how Mendelssohn improvised on this chorale and how he introduced the BACH motive in the course of his improvisation. After careful study of Mendelssohn’s organ sonatas, in 2007/08 Rudolf Lutz expanded the fragment into a sonata in the style of the composer.