Widor, Charles-Marie (EN)

Widor Charles-Marie, *21 February 1844 Lyon, †12 March 1937 Paris, French organist, composer, and teacher. His grandfather, Jean Widor (1775–1854), was an organ builder for the Callinet company in Rouffach; his father, François-Charles (1811–1899), and brother, Paul (1847–1930), were organists at the Church of St-François de Sales in Lyon. Widor received his initial musical education from his father; at the age of 11, he became organist at the College des Jésuites de la Trinité in Lyon, from which he graduated in 1862 with a classical degree. In 1863, he studied organ privately in Brussels for about seven months with J.N. Lemmens and counterpoint, fugue, and composition with F.-J. Fétis, and on 28 July of that year, he gave his first concert at the Church of St-Sulpice in Paris. Recommended by A. Cavaillé-Coll, C. Saint-Saëns, and Ch. Gounod, he became interim organist of this church in 1870, succeeding L.J.A. Lefébure-Wély; he never gained the title of titular organist, but held that position for 64 years, until 1933. At the Paris Conservatory, he taught organ (December 1870–96) and composition (October 1896–1927). His students included renowned organists, including H. Busser, A. Schweitzer, Ch. Tournemire, C. Quef, L. Vierne, and composers, including M. Dupré, A. Honegger, D. Milhaud, N. Boulanger, and E. Varèse. In the 1926/27 academic year, O. Messiaen was also a student in Widor’s composition class. Widor gave private organ lessons until 1933; his last students included H. Klotz and S. Jeans. Widor made dozens of concert trips abroad, including to Portugal (1865), England (1865, 1888, 1890), the Netherlands (1886), Switzerland (1894), Germany (1895, 1899, 1921), Russia (1896, 1901, 1903), Italy (1898), and in 1901 he played in Warsaw. Widor’s last public appearances as an organist took place in 1932 – on 10 June in Paris and in the autumn in Salzburg, and as a conductor – on 19 April 1934 in Paris. Together with F. Casadesus, he founded Le Conservatoire Américain in Fontainebleau in 1921 and served as its director from 1923 to 1934. Committed to supporting French composers, he initiated the establishment of the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid (1920–32) in 1916–18 and a similar centre, the E. Rothschild Foundation, in London (1921). From 29 October 1910, Widor was a member of the Academié des Beaux-Arts, and on 18 July 1914 became its secretary for life; he was appointed to similar societies in Berlin (1906), Brussels (1907), Stockholm (1909), Florence (1923), and Bologna (1924). He was awarded the Grand Gold Medal of the City of Paris (1930) and the Order of Officer of the Legion of Honour (1933). He died in his own home in Paris and was buried in the crypt of the Church of St-Sulpice.

After the deaths of C. Saint-Saëns and G. Fauré in the mid-1920s, Widor became the doyen of French music; alongside C. Franck, he was the father of the so-called French symphonic organ school, inspired by the sonic possibilities of A. Cavaillé-Coll’s organs, and the creator (1872) of the name for its specific genre – the organ symphony (its features were already present in the second piece from Franck’s cycle Six pièces pour grand orgue). His close relationship with A. Cavaillé-Coll was decisive not only for his studies with the Belgian organist and his position as organist at St-Sulpice, but also for Widor’s inauguration (with Franck, Saint-Saëns, Guilmant, Gigout, Dupré, and others) of many instruments by this outstanding designer in churches and halls of Paris, including the Notre-Dame (1867, reinaugurations 1894, 1932), Saint-Trinité (1869), Trocadéro (1878), St-François-Xavier (1879), St-Philippe-du-Roule (1903), Sacré-Coeur (1919) and other cities, for example in Rouen (St-Quain, 1890), as well as abroad, for example in London (Carmelite monastery in Kensington, 1865). In his private salon, Widor also had an A. Cavaillé-Coll organ from 1893, which he moved to the Musée de Caen in 1917, seat of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, where he organised organ and chamber concerts every first Saturday of the month. He also inaugurated the E.F. Walcker of Ludwigsburg organ at the Warsaw Philharmonic (1901). Widor greatly enjoyed conducting his own works, even though his skills in this field were not highly regarded. He achieved the highest acclaim as an organ virtuoso, distinguished, according to L. Vierne, by his extraordinary musicality and ability to play a wide phrase with perfect accentuation, impeccable legato, and precise staccato that did not shorten the duration of the note, his superb pedal technique, and his always independent, rapid registration changes. Especially in the Church of St-Sulpice, as I.J. Paderewski recalled, “at Widor’s famous morning concerts, one could meet the entire artistic and aristocratic world of Paris every Sunday. The church was always crowded with the most splendid and beautiful ladies of Parisian society. Sometimes even (…) foreigners frequenting the high society would come.” In addition to his own compositions, Widor’s repertoire included works by Bach, Handel, and Mendelssohn, among others. The 88-year-old Widor’s performance of his Toccata from Op. 42, No. 1, and the Andante sostenuto and Finale from Op. 70 on the organ in St-Sulpice was recorded in 1932 by La Voix de son Maître (DB 4856, 4864-65), and these recordings were reissued by EMI (C 153-16411/5) in 1981 on the album Orgues et organistes français en 1930. Widor, as Franck’s successor at the Paris Conservatoire, thoroughly reformed organ teaching; he emphasized, among other things, precision of playing technique and the important role of reason in interpretation. Maintaining the tradition of his teacher, J.N. Lemmens, Widor promoted Bach’s music in France, including through concerts of the Parisian oratorio society “La Concordia” (of which he was director and conductor from 1880). He also contributed to the writing of a monograph on Bach by A. Schweitzer and, with it, the publication of the German master’s organ works. Widor prepared a free transcription of six Bach works for organ, entitled Bach’s Memento, especially for the inauguration of the new organ (1925) at the Conservatoire Américain. Widor’s interest in the works of Liszt (whom Widor met personally in 1866, 1876, and 1878) and Wagner (including his 1876 trip to Bayreuth for the premiere of the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen) influenced, among other things, on the homophonisation and symphonisation of the organ texture, the dramatisation of Widor’s musical narrative, the harmony (especially of his late chamber and orchestral works) and the introduction of numerous examples from Wagner’s operas in the treatise Technique de l’orchestre moderne.

The first 8 of Widor’s 10 organ symphonies (op. 13 and 42) have a 5-6-movement structure, with passages characteristic of a suite (e.g. Prélude, Marche, Minuet, Pastorale, Toccata). Analogous predilections are visible in his chamber music, for example in op. 34, 51, 58. In all the organ symphonies, the ABA form predominates, with the rondo (op. 42 No. 2, movement 5), the theme with variations (op. 42 No. 1, movement 1; op. 70 movement 4), while the sonata allegro appears sporadically. In op. 13 and 42, Widor’s perfect mastery of the art of counterpoint is already evident, but in op. 42 is dominated by the homophonic texture, the melodic factor, with the cantabile genre typical of Widor (op. 42 No. 1, movement 2 and No. 2, movement 3), and the virtuosic element (e.g. the famous final Toccata from op. 42 No. 1). A characteristic feature of the last organ symphonies, op. 70 Gothic and op. 73 Romanesque, which are a synthesis of Widor’s achievements in this genre and in terms of playing technique, is the unification of the cycle through the use of the Gregorian chant melody Puer natus est, which returns three times in movement 3 of op. 70, and in movement 4 is the theme for three variations, of which the 2^nd and 3^rd are canons. In turn, Haec dies appears in all movements of op. 73, and in the third movement, additionally, are used from the same Easter Mass: Ite missa est, Victimae paschali laudes, Agnus redemit oves, and Ressurexi. Chorale themes also appear in symphonies with concertante organ participation: Op. 81 (Te Deum, Lauda Sion) and Op. 83 (Nun komm der Heiden Heiland).

His career as a virtuoso organist and conductor, his teaching career and that of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and his related journalistic work (under the pseudonym Tibićen or Aulétès in publications such as “Le Correspondant,” “Le Piano-Soleil,” and “L’Estafette”) did not limit Widor’s compositional activity, as he composed almost 100 opuses and published his first four organ symphonies op. 13 in 1872, just two years after taking up his position at St-Sulpice. However, he was working on the final versions of all the symphonies, op. 13 and op. 42, as evidenced by their subsequent editions, the last revised by the composer himself in 1928–29. Some religious works, such as the Messe op. 36, were written for the St-Sulpice church choir, while a composition with concertante piano – the Fantaisie op. 62 and Piano Concerto No. 2 op. 77, were inspired by Widor’s friend I. Philippe, a virtuoso pianist and their first performer. Among Widor’s stage works, the ballet La Corrigane (160 performances at the Paris Opéra between 1880 and 1962) and the opera Maître Ambros, a synthesis of Meyerbeer and Wagner’s stylistic elements, gained attention. His extensive chamber works, including the Serenade op. 10, Piano Quartet op. 66, and songs to poetry by V. Hugo, were often intended for performance in Parisian salons, but although published, they never entered the wider concert circuit. Organ symphonies, however, have taken a permanent place in the repertoire, and are still frequently performed by Polish organists. They have influenced contemporary French organ music, including the works of C. Tournemire (e.g. Triple choral op. 41, L’orgue mystique op. 55–57) and L. Vierne (e.g. symphonies for organ no. 4 op. 32, no. 6 op. 59).

Literature: (published in Paris if not stated otherwise) H. Imbert Portraits et études, 1894; H. Reynaud L’Oeuvre de Charles-Marie Widor, étude d’esthétique musicale, Lyon 1900; A. Boschot Notice sur la vie et les oeuvres de M. Charles-Marie Widor, 1937; H. Klotz Erinnerungen an Charles-Marie Widor, “Musik und Kirche” 1937; I.J. Paderewski Memoirs, written down by M. Lawton, London 1939, Polish ed., Kraków 1961; N. Dufourcq La musique d’orgue française de J. Titelouze à J. Alain, 1941, 2^nd ed. 1949; I. Philipp Charles-Marie Widor. A Portrait, “The Musical Quarterly” XXX, 1944; L. Vierne Mes souvenirs, “L’Orgue. Cahiers et mémoires,” special issue (134 bis), 1970, German ed., Cologne 2004; M. Dupré M. Dupré raconte, 1972; G. Favre Silhouettes du Conservatoire. Charles-Marie Widor, A. Gédalge, M. d’Ollone, 1986; A. Thomson The Life and Times of Charles-Marie Widor. 1844–1937, Oxford 1987; A. Hobbs Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937), “L’Orgue. Cahiers et mémoires” no. 40, 1988/2; E. Kooiman J. Lemmens, Charles-Marie Widor und die französische „Bach-Tradition”, “Ars organi” XXXVII, 1989/4 and XXXVIII, 1990/1; S. Hiemke Die Bach-Rezeption CharlesMarie Widors, Frankfurt am Main 1994; B. van Oosten Charles-Marie Widor. Vater der Orgelsymphonie, Paderborn 1997; M. Murray French Masters of the Organ. Saint-Saëns, Franck, Widor, Vierne, Dupré, Langlais, Messiaen, New Haven 1998; French Organ Music. From the Revolution to Franck and Widor, ed. L. Archbold, W.J. Peterson, Rochester 1999; W. Syre Individualismus der zyklischen Form. Einige Randbemerkungen zur Formentwicklung in Widors Orgelsinfonien Opus 13 und 42, parts 1 and 2, “Organ – Journal für die Orgel” 2005 no. 4 and 2006 no. 1; G. Clericetti Charles-Marie Widor. La Francia organistica tra Otto e Novecento, Varese 2010; J. R. Near Widor a Life beyond the Toccata, Rochester 2011; A.-I. de Parcevaux Charles-Marie Widor, 2015; M. R. Bundy Visions of Eternity. The Choral Works and Operas of Widor, Vierne and Tournemire, Leicester 2017; C. Miller Sinfonische Orgel nach 1870 zwischen Sakralität, Profanität und Nationalismus. Ein deutsch-französischer Vergleich, “Die Musikforschung” 70, 2017 no. 2; H. Fabrikant The Pianists Hardly Spoil Me with too Much Attention. A Study of the Forgotten Piano Works of Charles-Marie Widor, 1844–1937, introduction J. R. Near, Caulfield 2019; J. R. Near Widor on Organ Permormance Practice and Technique, Rochester 2019.