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Widor Organ Symphony 5 in F Minor

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Widor 5 Symphony
and his
Famous Toccata
 

The Toccata from the Widor 5th Organ Symphony is one of the most famous pieces of organ music. It's often played as the organ voluntary at weddings. Jump straight to listen the Toccata if you are new to Widor. If you like it, then read and listen to more! (And I bet you recognise it when your hear it!)

Charles Marie Widor was a French organist and composer who lived in the late 19th / early 20th Century. In 1870, the master organ-builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll petitioned for Widor to be appointed as the organist at St Sulpice in Paris for which Cavaillé-Coll had just built an organ of exceptional quality. It's fitting therefore that this lens features another of the great Cavaillé-Coll organs, that of Notre Dame de Paris.  Widor's 5th Organ Symphony in F Minor was first performed in 1879, has 5 movements and lasts about 35 minutes.

 

Track Artist Album  
Toccata: Charles-Marie Widor Paul Rayner-Brown The Great Organ

Widor Organ Symphony No 5 - Allegro

Movement I

This is played by Oliver Latry on the Grand Organ of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. (See the Toccata section for more details.)

The first movement has less immediate appeal than the final Toccata, but it winds up to some classic organ music by the end of the movement.
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Widor Symphony No 5 - Allegro Cantabile

Movement II

Oliver Latry at Notre Dame again playing the Allegro Cantbile, the second movement of the Widor 5th Organ Symphony.
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Widor's 5th - Andantino Quasi Allegretto

Movement III

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Widor Organ Symphony No 5 - Andante

Movement IV

A beautiful, restrained movement before the excitement of the Toccata.
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Widor Organ Symphony 5 - Toccata

Movement V

Most people know the Widor Toccata for the Widor 5th, even if they don't know what it is. It's often played at weddings and is even played that the end of Christmas Midnight Mass in Saint Peters, Rome (ie the bassilca at the Vatican).

Such a magestic, full-bodied piece of music needs - deserves - to be played on a great Cathedral organ, ideally by a top organist who can manage to keep the complex piece precisely to tempo. So here it is played on the magnificent Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Les Grandes Orgues du Notre Dame de Paris (the Grand Organ of the Cathedral of Our Lady, Paris) and played by the Titular Cathedral Organist Olivier Latry.
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Widor 5 - Yours to Own

I've showcased these at Amazon as they have a preview of each of the movments you can listen to and I always suggest that people listen before they buy and check that they really do like the version.

Charles-Marie Widor: 5e & 6e Symphonies pour Orgue aux Grandes Orgues de Notre-Dame de Paris

Amazon Price: $9.90 (as of 02/15/2012)Buy Now
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I love the Olivier Latry recording so much that it's the one I recommend buying on CD, combined here with Widor Organ Symphony No 6 in G Minor which opens with a stunning Allegro.

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Widor Toccata MP3

Many of us like to have out favourite music on our iPods and the Widor Toccata MP3 fits that bill for me. As it's a fairly loud piece of music, it's great to listen to when travelling on a noisy train!

Cinquième Symphonie. Toccata

Amazon Price: $0.99 (as of 02/15/2012)Buy Now

If you just love the Toccata, it's available as an MP3 download - the Olivier Latry version which I love so much of course!

More Widor & More Organs

Learn more about Charles Marie Widor by visiting this lens. He composed many great pieces of organ music including the Allegro in his 6th Organ Symphony and Marche Pontificale. I've scoured the Internet on your behalf to compile a biography and feature some of the greatest pieces played on some of the best organs in the world.

You may have guessed that I love the big cathedral organs! So here also is my roundup of the great English Cathedral pipe organs. (I'll probably put together something on the French cathedrals, and Aristide Cavaille-Coll in particular. For now, I just have a lens about Bayeux Cathedral.)
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