Organ Symphony No. 5 in F Minor

The 19th century was a golden age of French organ music, when powerful new instruments designed by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll massively expanded the range of dynamic and expressive effects of which the organ was capable. Charles-Marie Widor was richly inspired by Cavaillé-Coll’s innovations, and his Organ Symphony No. 5 (1879) is a prime example of the grandly expressive works a new generation of French composers began writing for the “king of instruments”. The Symphony’s most famous movement is the concluding “Toccata”, a technically scintillating, exuberant piece often played at wedding ceremonies. But there is drama and poetry in the earlier movements too. The influence of the mighty Cavaillé-Coll organ Widor played at the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris is clearly evident in the opening movement, whose main tune is colourfully illustrated on different stops, then built to a thrilling peroration. In the lilting second movement, oboe and flute stops voice the principal theme, while in the central movement much of the rhythmic and melodic impetus is generated by the organ’s pedal notes. The serene fourth movement provides an opportunity for quiet contemplation before the dazzling “Widor’s Toccata” finale. There the listener feels the full force of Widor’s creativity, inspired, as he put it, by “the 6,000 pipes of the Saint-Sulpice organ vibrating under my hands and feet”.