7/6 – Music of Saint-Saëns, Messiaen, and Widor

Although all three of the composers on this organ recital wrote music of many varied types, from opera to chamber music, all three were originally trained as organists and had organ-playing careers at several famous Parisian churches. In fact, in the United States we hardly think of Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) as an organist at all. Still, one of his most famous works, the Organ Symphony — Symphony #3, Op 78, for Organ and Orchestra — easily reminds us that it was a favorite instrument of his. He was organist of Paris’ Church of St Merry in the 1850s, then served at the Church of Sainte-Madeleine until 1877. The Fantasy in E-Flat is in two parts, of which we’ll hear the second, “Allegro con fuoco” (lively and fiery). It’s a kind of written-out improvisation; one of its passages resembles a fugue, others are characterized by brilliant arpeggios exploring the organ’s varied ranges and registers.

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was profoundly influenced by Christian mysticism, and a number of his works evoke heavenly visions: “The Ascension,” “Quartet for the End of Time,” and “Twenty Contemplations of the Christ Child,” a piano cycle, all contain numerous examples of this overriding influence on his life and music. Messiaen’s Parision church was La Trinite, whose organ was constructed in the late 19th century by probably the most outstanding of French organ-builders, Aristide Cavaille-Coll, and rebuilt in both the 1930s and the 1960s to incorporate some of Messiaen’s requests and specifications. One of the first of his own compositions he played on La Trinite’s organ was the 1932 work “Apparition de l’Eglise eternelle,” which may be translated as “Visions of the Eternal Church.” This 10-minute instrumental meditation is marked to be played “very slow.” It begins as a powerful crescendo, an increase in volume from soft to loud, built by gradually adding in more and more of the organ’s sonic resources. This is followed by an equally gradual decrescendo – returning from loud to soft. The piece is unified by the use of constant, repeated rhythmic patterns.

Born in 1844 in the French city of Lyon, where he was his school’s organist by the age of 11, Charles-Marie Widor studied organ and composition in the Belgian capital of Brussels, where he was sent on the recommendation of none other than Aristide Cavaille-Coll. Widor had a long and distinguished career as the organist of Paris’ Church of St. Sulpice, remaining there from 1869 to 1933, four years before his death. Though he wrote for the opera house, symphony orchestras, and choirs, organ music took the most important place in his catalogue of compositions, notably the 10 full-length organ symphonies he created to show off not only his own talents but also the capabilities of the St. Sulpice organ. Organ Symphony Number Five has five movements, of which we’ll hear the final two. The “Adagio” in C Major is the symphony’s slow movement: peaceful and serene, it modulates into a number of keys before returning to C. It’s a perfect contrast to the symphony’s perpetual-motion finale, a Toccata in F Major marked Allegro (lively). This cheerful celebration of organ sonority is Widor’s most famous single work, often played by itself. The main theme is heard in the pedal part as the organist’s right and left hands embellish it with rich chords and brilliant virtuoso figurations.