Louis Vierne

Louis Vierne was the titular organist of Notre Dame Cathedral Paris for nearly 40 years and composer of six organ symphonies that built on the example of his teacher Widor, so it’s perhaps inevitable that his reputation should have been inextricably bound up with the instrument. There’s more to Vierne than meets the eye, however, and his chamber music is increasingly receiving admiring attention. Born in Poitier in 1870, Vierne had an emotional childhood encounter with the playing of César Franck that determined the future focus of his career; his subsequent studies with the organist-composer instilled a fluid approach to harmony. Vierne’s Symphony No. 6 (1930) describes a darkness-to-light trajectory across its five movements (a poignant theme given his near-blindness), while the Messe solennelle(1899) makes ear-catching antiphonal use of the accompanying instruments. Several works speak to a life clouded by tragedy, none more so perhaps than the Piano Quintet of 1917, which mourns the wartime death of a son. Vierne himself died in 1937 at the console of the Notre Dame organ as he was about to conclude a recital dedicated to his own music.