Organ trio (three-part texture)
Three-part organ writing, often distributed over several manuals and pedal; no fixed form.
What it means
Organ trio denotes a three-part organ texture. Usually the right hand plays on one manual, the left hand on a second manual and the feet play the third voice on the pedal. The three voices are equal and run as independent lines. The term does not mean a fixed form but a manner of writing.
Musical use
Famous are the six trio sonatas for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 525–530), in which each voice receives its own registration and the movements are built like a trio sonata for two melody instruments and basso continuo. Chorale settings in trio texture also belong here, in which the chorale melody lies in one of the voices.
The organ trio texture should be distinguished from the trio as a scoring for three instruments and from the jazz organ trio, which plays with organ, guitar and drums.
Performance practice
Practise the voices first singly, then in pairs and finally together. Pay attention to distinct articulation of each voice and to the feet playing the pedal calmly and exactly; only then does the three-part texture remain transparent.