Awright, so this was my homework for tonight: to analyze and review this book about Widor. Ten minute oral presentation. I don’t know what I’m doing, but this is what I came up with, should you ever wish to know more about Widor.
The book is Widor: A Life Beyond the Toccata, by John Near (University of Rochester Press, 2011). You can add it to my list of ‘scholarly books I would totally own’, alongside the Duruflé biography by the same publisher which I actually do own (thanks to my parents).
Outline:
- A: Introduction
- B: A Review of Widor’s Career
- C: A Review of Widor’s Music
- – I. His style
- – II. His output
- – III. Why was Widor forgotten?
- D: Analysis of the book
- – I. Why the book exists
- – II. Organizational criticisms
- – III. Point of interest: Duruflé and Widor
- E: Conclusion
Widor: A Life Beyond the Toccata – a review
Widor: A Life Beyond the Toccata by John Near is a work designed to become the standard biography on an under-appreciated composer-organist from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. It is thorough and fascinating, at least to students of organists and organ music, shedding light on a figure sometimes talked about but never actually known. It is compiled from all available sources, including a wealth of newly ‘discovered’ primary sources owned by Widor’s family. It has extensive footnotes and appendices in the back of the book, and some photographs in the middle.
A brief overview of Widor’s career: he was a French organist (his dates are 1844-1937) and he began his career as a child prodigy, rapidly rising to fame as a young man thanks to his performances of faultless technique, taste, and musicality. His family was good friends with the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, and thanks to his influence, young Widor became the organist at the great church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris with its 100-stop Cavaillé-Coll organ. There, he was ‘provisional organist’ for 64 years because the church council forgot to appoint him as ‘organist titulaire’. In addition to performing in concerts and at Saint-Sulpice, he became organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1890, where his best student was Louis Vierne. He switched to become professor of composition in 1896, and although his character was impeccable, faced jealousy and obstruction from his colleagues on occasion, in particular his so-called ‘arch-rival’, Gabriel Fauré who became the Director of the Conservatoire. Widor was appointed a member of the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in 1910, and was appointed Perpetual Secretary of the same in 1914, making him the most important musician in France. He continued to teach and perform until 1935, at which point he became too ill to continue.
Widor was known during his life as a great composer; most people (even those ignorant of organ music) still know his Toccata from the Fifth Symphony for Organ, which is the one named in the book’s title. His style is described as austere and intellectual, with emphasis on form and order, and he took Bach as his ideal. All his music was written with impeccable craftsmanship – and perfect sincerity. In later years he turned to religious music, such as plainchant, as a source of inspiration.
He wrote ten organ symphonies, a ballet, two operas, orchestral symphonies, a Mass for two choirs and two organs, concerti, and many songs and chamber works. Few of these are now known or performed, except for the Toccata and the other organ symphonies, and those are only known by organists; some recordings exist. As preparation for this book, the author edited a critical edition of the complete works, which is in our library.
Widor has largely been forgotten, or dismissed as only one of those obscure French organists, so it was a surprise to me to learn through this book that he was one of the most important and influential musicians in France at the turn of the century. He had connections to virtually all French musicians of his time, and many international musicians. The author suggests that his music fell out of fashion with the French public later in his life and afterwards; he had helped to rejuvenate French music, organ music in particular but all music in general, and then younger composers such as Milhaud and Varèse took it in directions that he did not entirely approve of. The new music was either too popular and arbitrary or too dissonant for him, which is ironic considering that his music was at one time considered too dissonant. Although his works were always enthusiastically applauded during his life-time, and every new composition hailed as a masterpiece, their intellectual qualities distanced him from the regular public, who preferred more ‘easy listening’. Then, after his death, the rest of the world forgot he ever existed, except for the ubiquitous Toccata, which was his most famous piece during his lifetime and the one he performed most.
I believe the book is an excellent read, even for non-organists. It is never dull, and is eloquently and elegantly written. The tone is academic and straight-forward; the tone of defensive idolization pervading this review is my own. The author’s forward is inspiring; an organist casting around for a doctoral thesis, he discovered that Widor had not been researched since the 1960’s, and then discovered that Widor was not only an organist but a musician of many genres and great stature. Thus the author decided that a complete biography of Widor had to be written, and it was 30 years in the writing.
I have only one criticism of the style, which may not be a criticism considering the type of book it is: the author pulls primary sources from many points in time in order to complete his picture of a certain point in time. But this is a scholarly biography, not a coffee-table storybook biography, and I suppose that is normal. I only find it a bit disconcerting to hear about letters from 1893 (for instance) when I am reading about 1885. Otherwise, it is occasionally a little disorganized as it interweaves the story of Widor’s life and career with discussion of the music he wrote at the time. An exception is the section on Widor’s wife; the story of her relationship with him is segmented into its own portion of the final chapter. I find this confusing, but scholars probably will not.
Another thing that initially excited me was a lone mention of my favourite organist, Maurice Duruflé. Apparently, he was in Widor’s composition class for a year and a half, in 1925-27, during which time he won two prizes in composition. He requested a letter of recommendation from Widor (among others) when he applied to become organist titulaire at Saint Etienne-du-Mont. I checked this with the biography of Duruflé (by James Frazier, published in 2007 by University of Rochester Press, the same publisher as this book) and noted that Widor is not mentioned in a teaching capacity in that book; in fact, he is barely mentioned at all. Perhaps this is new information that has been discovered in the interim, or perhaps Frazier thought it irrelevant, although I think the former more likely. What I would like to know is why Duruflé would choose to distance himself from Widor: the letter cited states quite clearly that ‘I was not his student’ and that he associated himself as a student of Paul Dukas, so he was not simply forgetting. It has been suggested to me that the short length of study could be the reason. However, others studied with Widor for less time and did not so flatly deny a relationship with him. The author cannot say why; no doubt he has looked for an explanation, and perhaps none survives.
This is a surprising book, although the surprise is not so much the content but the fact that the content should be so new to us. But this biography is here now, and it feels like one that will last. It has awakened my interest in Widor’s other music and educated me as to an unknown giant, and I hope it will not sit idle on university shelves in years to come.
