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Charles‐Marie Widor

French organist, composer and teacher

From: Lyon, France
Active: 1844–1937
Releases: 106

classical
romantic classical

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About

Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer, teacher, conductor and critic of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is best known for his ten symphonies for solo organ, a genre he invented. He was helped in this by the innovative organs built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. The final Toccata of his Organ Symphony No. 5 is frequently played as recessional music at weddings and other celebrations.

He was the longest-serving organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, a post he held for 63 years (January 1870 – 31 December 1933). He also was organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1890 to 1896 in succession to César Franck and then he became professor of composition at the same institution, following Théodore Dubois.
Widor was a prolific composer, writing music for organ, piano, voice and ensembles. Apart from his ten organ symphonies, he also wrote three symphonies for orchestra and organ, nearly a hundred songs for piano and voice, four operas and a ballet.

From Charles-Marie Widor on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.