After a disastrous stint of compulsory military service from 1896 to 1898, Reger was given an early discharge due to severe illness and brought to the family home in Weiden by his sister, where he recuperated slowly and composed prolifically. Among the staggering spate of organ works spanning the turn of the century is the curious Op. 59 collection of 12 small pieces composed in June 1901—on the eve of his departure for Munich and a career as pianist and organist—making up a microcosm of his feverish creativity, mannerisms, and return to health. Among the usual character and pseudo-Baroque pieces (Pastorale, Canon, Toccata, Fugue, etc.) are four numbers inspired by Catholic liturgy and often called his "organ mass"—Kyrie, Gloria, Benedictus, and Te Deum. Of these, the Benedictus has become by far the most popular. A chromatically yearning melody manages to be at once unctuous and anxious and, taken at Reger's prescribed tempi (rather than those of his friend, champion, and sometime editor, organist Karl Straube), expressively volatile. Uneasy restlessness comes at last, after several evasions, to the expected cadence. In the manner of a fugal exposition, a turbulent affirmation rings out mimicking the liturgical text, "Hosanna in excelsis." But rejoicing is short-lived as the initial yearning theme returns for a quiet fadeout.

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Most of Max Reger's best-known organ works, including the 12 Pieces for organ, Op. 59, were written during the three year period between 1898 (when he was discharged from military service and moved into his parents' home in Weiden) and 1901 (when he moved to Munich to actively build his career and reputation). By the final months of Reger's Weiden recuperation, his creative powers were clearly in excellent shape: the 12 pieces of Op. 59 were all composed between the middle of June and July 1, 1901—12 pieces, and not tiny pieces, mind you, in a fortnight. In addition to being a remarkable display of productivity, Op. 59 is notable for being a series of character pieces—not at all common in organ music. Perhaps appropriate, given the organ's role in church worship, these character pieces are based on portions of the Catholic liturgy.

The E minor Präludium that opens the set is a mighty utterance, fortissimo and even triple-forte during the dense motivic imitation of the outer portions; but there is some quietude at the center of the piece. A siciliano-rhythm Pastorale in F major follows, beginning as a canon but immediately spreading its long legato wings more freely. No. 3 is a vehement A minor Intermezzo with a chorale-like middle strain. No. 4 is a genuine Canon, at the interval of a sixth above and at the distance of two beats (which, since the piece is in 3/4 time, means that the downbeat of the initial voice becomes an upbeat in the imitative voice). The wildly gushing Toccata (No. 5) is well known on its own. The four-voice Fugue in D major (No. 6) begins with a subject drawn from much the same intervallic stock as the subject of the C major fugue in the first volume of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

With No. 7, "Kyrie eleison," Reger begins the sequence of liturgical character pieces—a happy "Gloria in excelsis" in D major and a luxuriant, adagio "Benedictus" in D flat major follow immediately as Nos. 8 and 9. But Reger inserts two more pieces of "pure music" before the final character piece, which is a "Te Deum" in A minor (No. 12); these two are a humorous Capriccio in F sharp minor and a translucently chromatic "Melodia" in B flat major.

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