Charles-Marie Widor
1844 - 1937
Coming from a long line of organ builders (now there’s a job that doesn’t crop up much these days) it was perhaps inevitable where Charles-Marie’s musical talents would lie.
By the age of 11 he was already the organist at his secondary school and by the age of 16 he had succeeded his father as organist at the Church of St Francis in Lyon.
He succeeded Cesar Frank no less, as professor of organ at the Paris Conservatoire in 1890. Whilst Saint-Saëns’s organ symphony may have a definitive place on the playlists of classical radio stations, Widor wrote ten of them. Sadly none of which are now heard often if at all.
Widor left behind him a substantial body of work for the organ but also 2 operas a number of ballets and orchestral works too.
Here’s a sample from his 5th symphony:
It was great to learn something of Widor - thanks! The video also added another dimension to the piece (awe). The organist looked like he had been left in sole charge of the starship Enterprise in a major crisis. It is one thing to know an organ is complicated but quite another to see it illustrated so clearly - congrats to the video-maker also.
Great stuff, my only criticism is that it's so mainstream that even I am familiar with it!