During his lifetime, 1877-1933, Karg-Elert produced choral works (accompanied and unaccompanied); lieder; a considerable amount of orchestral and chamber music; as well as numerous works for piano, organ and harmonium.

Although he composed many works for instruments other than the organ and harmonium, it is nevertheless for these that he is, perhaps, best remembered.

The popular Kunstharmonium (Art-Harmonium) developed by the French company Mustel, in the latter decades of the nineteenth century, had become an instrument of considerable merit – much more so than the more commonplace harmoniums and American organs that were so popular throughout Europe and the United States at that time. It was to this instrument that Karg-Elert was attracted, since its complexity of manufacture offered the performer a highly variable tone-colour palette with considerable means of mechanical expression which he greatly admired.

During the early years of the twentieth century he was to compose a large number of works for this instrument ranging from short pieces, often rather romantically titled, to full-scale works in Sonata form. In this activity he was encouraged by his publisher, Simon (Berlin), who possessed a Kunstharmonium and were keen to increase the repertoire available to it. Often, in promotion of the Mustel instrument, Karg-Elert was encouraged to give concert tours, both at home and abroad.

But it is in regard to his works for organ that he is best known today. These works, his greatest output, show a complex appreciation of the registrational possibilities available to the organist and like all his music, they are often highly expressive.

As with his works for the harmonium, his compositions for organ vary from short sketches and impressions, to large-scale works demanding an instrument of considerable tonal variety and expression.
Though popular abroad, especially in England, the United States, and Australia, his compositions were perhaps more justifiably admired than his performance skills – a point which was to become all too apparent on tours he made to the United States in the early 1930s, when he was much criticised.

The works of Sigfrid Karg-Elert were to fall from popularity for some decades after his death in 1933, though certain pieces, like the well-known Chorale Improvisations, were to remain popular and oft-performed. It is the desire of the Karg-Elert Archive to nurture and encourage the more sympathetic appreciation that has begun to emerge in recent years.

The superb Gerhard Grenzing organ in the Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudule in Brussels, Belgium.