Louis Vierne

Louis Vierne (1910)

Louis Victor Jules Vierne (born October 8, 1870 in Poitiers , † June 2, 1937 in Paris ) was a French organist and composer .

Life

Louis Vierne and his brother René Vierne (1878-1918) were sons of the journalist Henri Vierne.

Louis Vierne was born with a severe visual impairment. The family moved to Paris in 1873, where Louis' uncle Charles Colin discovered his musical talent and encouraged him to play the piano. At the age of seven, Louis gained sufficient eyesight so that he was largely able to orientate himself in everyday life and read large print.

From 1880 Vierne received piano lessons from Henri Specht in Paris. In the same year he heard César Franck for the first time as organist in the Paris church of Sainte Clotilde . He later called this key experience a “revelation” in his memoirs. In 1881 Vierne entered the Paris Institute for the Blind, where he was taught by Henri Specht (piano) and Henri Adam (violin). From 1887 he received organ lessons from Louis Lebel and, after his death two years later, from Adolphe Marty. From 1889 Vierne took lessons in fugue from César Franck. He completed his studies at the Paris Conservatory , where he had already attended Franck's organ class as a listener, in 1894 under his successor Charles-Marie Widor with a first prize in organ playing and improvisation.

In 1892 Widor appointed his pupil Vierne to be deputy organ at the Paris church of Saint-Sulpice . After Vierne's first prize in organ in 1894, he also became Widor's assistant in the organ class at the Paris Conservatory. In 1898 Vierne wrote his first organ symphony op. 14. A year later he married the singer Arlette Taskin, from whom he was divorced in 1909. Son Jacques, who protested against the horrors of World War I , was shot dead on November 11, 1917.

The grave of Louis Vierne in the Montparnasse cemetery

In 1900, after an audition, Louis Vierne was selected from among several applicants and appointed titular organist at the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral , a position he held until his death. He also worked as assistant to Alexandre Guilmant , Widor's successor as organ professor at the Paris Conservatory, and in this position taught numerous important organists of the next generation in France.

In 1911 Vierne resigned from his position at the Conservatoire and switched to the Schola Cantorum church music institute as an organ professor .

In 1906 Vierne had to learn his pedal technique from scratch after a complicated broken leg; In 1907 he became life-threatening with typhus , a few years later with glaucoma and finally became completely blind. Nonetheless, Vierne undertook concert tours through Europe and the United States, where he also emerged as a brilliant improviser. Vierne died in 1937 during an organ concert at the console of his organ in Notre-Dame after a stroke. Vierne's student Maurice Duruflé later reported about it:

“Vierne had just played his last work, the“ Triptyque ”, with great expression. I stood next to him to register. When he started the last movement of the Triptyque (“Stèle pour un enfant défunt”) he turned pale, his fingers were literally on the keys and when he lifted his hands after the final chord he collapsed on the organ bench: he had a stroke met. At this point in the program he should improvise on the Gregorian theme "Salve Regina". But instead of this homage to the patroness Notre-Dames, you only heard a single long pedal note: His foot fell on this note and did not rise again. "

According to Vierne's last will, the Notre-Dame organ was silent during its funeral service and was covered in black; the only music consisted of Gregorian chant. Vierne was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery near his friends César Franck , Alexandre Guilmant , Camille Saint-Saëns and Vincent d'Indy .

In addition to the aforementioned Maurice Duruflé, Vierne's students include: Alphonse Schmitt , Augustin Barié , Lili Boulanger , André Fleury and Adrien Rougier .

Compositions

Organ solo

Allegretto op.1 (composed 1894)
Verset fugué sur 'In exitu Israel' (composed 1894)
Prélude funèbre in C minor, op.4 (composed 1896)
Communion op.8 (composed 1894)
First Symphony in D minor, op. 14 (composed 1898–1899)
Second Symphony in E minor, op.20 (composed 1902)
Third Symphony in F sharp minor, op.28 (composed 1911)
Fourth Symphony in G minor, op. 32 (composed 1913–1914)
Prelude in F sharp minor, without op. (Composed 1914)
Fifth Symphony in A minor, op. 47 (composed 1923–1924)
24 pieces de fantaisie :
- Première Suite op.51 (composed 1926)
- Deuxième Suite op.53 (composed 1926)
- Troisième Suite op. 54 (composed 1927), including the famous "Carillon de Westminster" ( audio sample Carillon de Westminster ^?^/^I )

Trois Improvisations (Notre-Dame-de-Paris, November 1928), transcribed by Maurice Duruflé (1954):

Marche épiscopale
Meditation
Cortège

Triptyque op. 58 (composed 1929–1931):

Matines
Communion
Stèle pour un enfant défunt

Sixth Symphony in B minor, op.59 (composed 1930)

Organ or harmonium

Mass basse , op. 30 for organ or harmonium (composed 1912)
24 pieces en style libre op.31 for organ or harmonium (composed 1913)
Mass basse pour les défunts op.62 for organ or harmonium (composed 1934)

Piano solo

Deux Pièces , op.7 (composed 1895):

Impression d'automne
intermezzo

Feuillets d'album , op.9 (lost):

1. Matin d'été
2. Contemplation
3. La Mer et la Nuit
4. Nuit étoilée
5. Coup de vent
6. Le vieux Berger
7. La Valse
8. Dans le Bois
9. Chanson des Faucheurs

Suite bourguignonne , op.17 (composed 1899):

Aubade
idyll
Divertissement
Legend
Angélus du soir
Danse rustique
Clair de lune

Trois Nocturnes , op.34 (composed 1916)

Douze Préludes , op. 36 (composed 1914–15)

Poème des cloches funèbres , op.39
(composed 1916):
- 1. Cloches dans le cauchemar (lost)
- 2. Le glass

Silhouettes d'enfants , op.43 (composed 1918):

1. Valse
2nd chanson
3. Divertissement
4. Barcarolle
5. Gavotte in the style of ancien

Solitude , op.44 (composed 1918):

1. Hantise
2. Nuit blanche
3. Vision hallucinante
4. Ronde des revenants

Pièce pour piano , op.49 (composed 1922)

Chamber music

Deux Pièces for violoncello, op.5

Largo et Canzonetta for oboe and piano, op.6 (composed 1896)

String Quartet , op.12 (composed 1894)

Sonata for violin and piano, op. 23 (composed 1905–1906)

Rhapsody for harp, op.25 (composed 1909)

Sonata for violoncello and piano, op.27 (composed 1910)

Piano quintet , op.42 (composed 1917)

Soirs étrangers for violoncello and piano, op.56 (composed 1928)

Quatre poèmes grecs for soprano and harp or piano, op.60 (composed 1930)

Other compositions

Mass solennelle in C sharp minor for choir and two organs, op.16 (composed 1899)

Praxinoé for solos, choir and orchestra, op. 22 (composed 1903–1905)

Symphony in A minor for orchestra, op. 24 (composed 1907–1908)

Psyché for soprano and orchestra, op.33 (composed 1914)

Les Djinns for soprano and orchestra, op.35 (composed 1912)

Éros for soprano and orchestra, op.37 (composed 1916)

Spleens et Détresses for soprano and piano or orchestra, op.38 (composed 1916)

Dal Vertice for tenor and orchestra, op.41 (composed 1917)

Marche Triomphale for organ, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and timpani, op.46

Poème for piano and orchestra, op.50 (composed 1925)

Les Angélus for voice and organ, op.57 (composed 1929)

La Ballade du désespéré for tenor and orchestra or piano, op.61 (composed 1931)

Songs based on texts by Paul Verlaine , Charles Baudelaire and others

Discography

"Louis Vierne: Quintet for piano and string quartet in C minor op. 42": Tamara Atschba, Louise Chisson, Matthias Adensamer, Alexander Znamensky and Christophe Pantillon. (Gramola, "1914")

"Louis Vierne: Preludes for piano op. 38": Tamara Atschba. (Gramola, "1914")

Louis Vierne: Songs : Rachel Santesso, soprano; Roger Vignoles, piano; Andrew Reid, organ; Hugh Webb, harp. (Deux-Elles)

Louis Vierne: Piano Quintet op. 42 : Stephen Coombs, piano; Chilingirian Quartet. (Hyperion)

Louis Vierne: Complete organ symphonies : Hans-Eberhard Roß , organ. (audite).

Organ Symphonies No. 1–4 Marie Claire Alain (Erato)

Organ Symphonies No. 1–6 Pierre Labric (The Musical Heritage Society)

Organ Symphonies No. 1–6 Pierre Cochereau (FY)

Organ Symphonies No. 1–6 Jeremy Filsell (Brilliant Classics)

Organ Symphonies No. 1–6 : Martin Jean, organ. (Loft Recordings)

Organ Symphonies No. 1–6 : David Sanger, organ. (Meridian Records)

Louis Vierne: Complete organ works : Christine Kamp, organ. (Festivo).

Louis Vierne: Complete organ works : Pierre Cochereau & George C. Baker , organ. (Solstice). 7 CDs.

Louis Vierne: Complete organ works : Ben van Oosten, organ. (MDG). 8 CDs.

Remarks

↑ Quoted from an article in “Music and Theology” on Vierne

literature

Bernard Gavoty: Louis Vierne. La vie et l'œuvre . Buchet / Chastel, Paris 1943.
Markus F. Hollingshaus: The organ works by Louis Vierne. Dohr, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-936655-25-1 .
Louis Vierne: Mes souvenirs , Paris 1934–1937; German edition: My memories. Dohr, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-925366-93-8 .

Web links

Commons : Louis Vierne - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Eugène Sergent	Titular organist at the Notre Dame de Paris organ 1900–1937	Léonce de Saint-Martin

personal data
SURNAME	Vierne, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Vierne, Louis Victor Jules (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French organist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH	October 8, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH	Poitiers
DATE OF DEATH	June 2, 1937
Place of death	Paris

[1] Quoted from an article in “Music and Theology” on Vierne