The Organ Symphony No. 3 (''Troisième symphonie pour grand orgue'') in

F-sharp minor F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major). T ...

, Op. 28, is an

organ symphony An organ symphony is a piece for solo pipe organ in various movements. It is a symphonic genre, not so much in musical form (in which it is more similar to the organ sonata or suite), but in imitating orchestral tone color, texture, and symphoni ...

Louis Vierne Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer. As the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death, he focused on organ music, including six organ symphonies and a '' Messe solennelle ...

. He composed it in 1911, and it was first performed in March 1912. It was first published by

Éditions Durand Éditions Durand are a music publishing company of French origin, among the most important in the field of classical music, which includes three previously independent publishers: * Éditions Durand — the oldest of the three companies — estab ...

the same year. It has been described as the most inspired and best structured of his six organ symphonies.

History

Vierne, organist at

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

, continued the French tradition of secular

organ symphonies An organ symphony is a piece for solo pipe organ in various movements. It is a symphonic genre, not so much in musical form (in which it is more similar to the organ sonata or suite), but in imitating orchestral tone color, texture, and symphoni ...

, such as the works by his teacher

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the mid-Romantic era, most notable for his ten organ symphonies. His Toccata from the fifth organ symphony has become one of the ...

, who had established the organ as a concert instrument. Widor was inspired by the organs built by

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ buildi ...

. Vierne composed the third organ symphony in 1911, beginning on 18 March. He completed it on 14 September during summer vacation which he spent with the family of

Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré () (3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Biography Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré was titular o ...

Saint-Valery-en-Caux Saint-Valery-en-Caux (, literally ''Saint-Valery in Caux'') is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. The addition of an acute accent on the "e" (Valéry) is incorrect. Geography The town is locat ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. He dedicated it to Dupré, who played the world premiere at the

Salle Gaveau The Salle Gaveau, named after the French piano maker Gaveau, is a classical concert hall in Paris, located at 45-47 rue La Boétie, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It is particularly intended for chamber music. Construction The plans for th ...

of Paris in March 1912. It was first published by

that year.

Carus-Verlag Carus-Verlag is a German music publisher founded in 1972 and based in Stuttgart. Carus was founded by choral conductor Günter Graulich and his wife Waltraud with an emphasis on choral repertoire. The catalogue currently includes more than 26,00 ...

published a

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of the complete organ works by Vierne in 2007, edited by

Jon Laukvik Jon Laukvik (born 16 December 1952, in Oslo) is a Norwegian organist. Laukvik studied church music, organ and piano in Oslo. Afterwards, he worked with Michael Schneider and Hugo Ruf in Cologne and Marie-Claire Alain in Paris. In 1980, he was a ...

and David Sanger.

Structure and music

The work is structured in five

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: # Allegro maestoso # Cantilène # Intermezzo # Adagio # Final The first movement begins with "an aggressive call to arms" in "jagged rhythmic edges" which dominate the movement in

sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...

. The rhythm is reminiscent of the

French overture The French overture is a musical form widely used in the Baroque period. Its basic formal division is into two parts, which are usually enclosed by double bars and repeat signs. They are complementary in style (slow in dotted rhythms and fast in f ...

with a more lyrical second subject, skillfully combined with the first in the development section, with significant chromaticism. The second movement is soft in contrast, with long melodic hautbois phrases. The third movement has

scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often ref ...

character in a

triple metre Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 (compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...

, which can be seen as grotesque or playful. A second theme comes with a pizzicato bass. The fourth movement is marked "Quasi largo", and is homophonic and soft like the second, but using

chromaticism Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic scale, diatonic pitch (music), pitches and chord (music), chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses o ...

reminiscent of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. A "declamatory melody" in a middle section seems endless. When the opening

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

returns, it is developed further. Vierne adapted this movement in his ''Piece symphonique'' for organ and orchestra in 1926, in preparation of a U.S. concert tour. The Final features typical elements of a French

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuo ...

, such as fast

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...

passages for the manuals versus a slow melody in the bass, but also uses counterpoint. It is again in sonata form, with an augmented bass in the development, and culminates in a

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

with virtuoso pedal.

Recordings

* Bruno Mathieu, 1996 *

Jeremy Filsell Jeremiah Daniel Filsell (born 10 April 1964) is an English pianist, organist and composer who currently serves as director of music at Saint Thomas Church, New York City. Biography Having played piano and organ from a young age, Filsell wa ...

, organ of Abbaye de Saint-Ouen, Rouen, 2005 * David Briggs, organ of

Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse The Basilica of Saint-Sernin (Occitan: ''Basilica de Sant Sarnin'') is a church in Toulouse, France, the former abbey church of the Abbey of Saint-Sernin or St Saturnin. Apart from the church, none of the abbey buildings remain. The current churc ...

, 2008 * Samuel Kummer, Kern organ of Frauenkirche Dresden,

References

External links

* * {{Portalbar, Classical Music, France Compositions by Louis Vierne 1911 compositions Compositions for organ Vierne Compositions in F-sharp minor