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Widor Charles Marie Jean Albert
Akimenko, Theodore
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Strauss, Richard
Taffanel, Claude Paul
Tulou, Jean-Louis
Vitali, Tomaso Antonio
Wagner, Siegfried
Widor, Charles Marie Jean Albert
Suite for flute and piano, Op. 34
Suite for flute and piano, Op. 34
Charles Widor: Suite for flute and piano, Op. 34 was written in 1877, shortly after his famous Symphony No. 5 for organ. The Suite was dedicated to Paul Taffanel, the "father of the modern French Flute School," who premiered it only seven years later, in 1884, at the Société Nationale de Musique in Paris by Paul Taffanel and the composer himself at piano. Taffanel’s lyrical and refined style was the direct inspiration for the work's "singing" quality.
In 1877, Widor was 33. He was in his seventh year as the organist of the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, home to the greatest Cavaillé-Coll organ in the world. His writing for the flute reflects this "symphonic" background, treating the piano-flute duo with orchestral weight.
This was the era when Widor and Taffanel were working closely to elevate wind music to the level of serious chamber art. By 1877, Taffanel was already advocating for the all-silver Boehm flute, and Widor's Suite was one of the first major works designed to exploit the coloristic possibilities of this "new" instrument.
Following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871, over dominance in continental Europe and the unification of Germany. The outcome led to the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany and fueled a long-standing French desire for revenge, which became a significant contributing factor to the outbreak of World War I), there was a major push to create a distinctively French school of instrumental music (Ars Gallica). Widor’s Op. 34 was a key contribution to this movement, blending traditional forms with French clarity.
5th Beijing International Music Competition, 2nd round, 2012 live at the Beijing Concert Hall
1. Moderato, 2. Scherzo, 3. Romance, 4. Final
Widor Charles Marie Jean Albert
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) was a French composer, organist, and teacher, mostly known as a composer of organ symphonies.
Born in Lyon, France, into a family of organ builders and musicians.
His father, François-Charles Widor, was an organist and a friend of the legendary organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who became a central figure in Widor's life. Charles initially studied with his father, becoming the organist at the Lycée de Lyon at the age of 11.
On the advice of Cavaillé-Coll, Widor moved to Brussels to study with the Belgian organ master Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens and composition with François-Joseph Fétis. This training instilled in him a rigorous German-influenced technique and a deep reverence for J.S. Bach.
In 1870, at age 25, Widor was appointed "provisional" organist at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris to play its massive Cavaillé-Coll organ. He held this "provisional" post for an astonishing 64 years.
In 1890, he succeeded César Franck as the organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1896, he became a composition professor. Among his students were Louis Vierne, Marcel Dupré, Darius Milhaud, and Edgard Varèse. While teaching organ and composition at the Paris Conservatoire, he greatly influenced many composers and organists, as well as his student and later collaborator Albert Schweitzer, a great polymath, philosopher, and the most famous advocate of J.S.Bach.
Additionally, he served as the Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and was a key figure in the founding of the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau.
Widor essentially invented the genre of the "Organ Symphony," treating the pipe organ as a complete orchestra. His Symphony No. 5, specifically its famous "Toccata," remains one of the most performed organ works in music history.