Charles-Marie Widor

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

Widor was born in Lyon, France to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music with his father, an organist himself. French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was a friend of the Widor family: he arranged for the young Widor to study in Brussels (with Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens) for organ technique and with François-Joseph Fétis, director of the Brussels Conservatoire, for composition).

In 1870, the 26-year-old Widor was appointed as organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the most prominent position for a French organist, where he remained as organist for 64 years, until the end of 1933. He was succeeded in 1934 by his former student Marcel Dupré. Meanwhile, in 1890 he succeeded César Franck as organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire; he later gave up his post in organ to become Composition Professor in 1896.

Widor's several students become famous composers and organists: most notably Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Darius Milhaud, Marcel Dupré, Alexander Schreiner, and Edgard Varèse. Albert Schweitzer studied with him from 1899.

Widor's best-known single piece for the pipe organ is the Toccata from his Symphony for Organ No. 5, often played as a recessional at wedding ceremonies. This piece is simply known as "Widor's Toccata". It seems unusual to assign the term "symphony" to a work written for one instrument; however, Widor was at the forefront of a revival in French organ music.

Widor's Organ Symphonies can be divided into 3 groups. The first four symphonies comprise Op. 13 (1872) and are more properly termed "suites" (Widor himself called them "collections".) They represent Widor's early compositional style. Widor made later revisions to the earlier organ symphonies, some of which were quite extensive. The early symphonies show great variety in writing, but neither the individual movements nor the Symphonies, themselves, compare to his later works.

With the Opus 42 Symphonies (5-8), Widor shows his mastery and refinement of his contrapuntal technique, while exploiting the fullest capabilities of the Cavaillé-Coll organs, for which these works were written.

Organ compositions

• Symphonie pour orgue No. 1 op. 13 no. 1 (1872, Hamelle)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 2 op. 13 no. 2 (1872, Hamelle)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 3 op. 13 no. 3 (1872, Hamelle)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 4 op. 13 no. 4 (1872, Hamelle)
• Marche Americaine (transc. by Marcel Dupré: no. 11 from 12 Feuillets d’Album op. 31, Hamelle)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 5 op. 42 no. 1 (1887, Hamelle)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 6 op. 42 no. 2 (1887, Hamelle)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 7 op. 42 no. 3 (1887, Hamelle)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 8 op. 42 no. 4 (1887, Hamelle)
• Marche Nuptiale op. 64 (1892) (trasc., from Conte d'Avril, Schott)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 9 "Gothique" op. 70 (1895, Schott)
• Symphonie pour orgue No. 10 "Romane" op. 73 (1900, Hamelle)
• Bach's Memento (1925, Hamelle)
• Suite Latine op. 86 (1927, Durand)
• Trois Nouvelles Pièces op. 87 (1934, Durand)