It was when I felt the six thousand pipes of the Saint-Sulpice organ vibrating under my hands and feet that I began to write my first four Organ Symphonies (published together by Maho). I didn't seek any particular style or form. I wrote feeling them deeply, asking myself if they were inspired by Bach or Mendelssohn. No! I was listening to the sonorousness of Saint-Sulpice, and naturally I sought to extract from it a musical fabric—trying to make pieces that, while being free, featured some contrapuntal procedures. My first four Organ Symphonies appeared original although being classical in style.

At the same time, I published my First Sonata for Piano and Violin. Durand also published my First Symphony in F for Orchestra [op. 16, 1872], which was partially performed at a Conservatory concert on November 6, 1872, when the Andante and the Scherzo were played. Today, I judge them quite amateurish and naive from an orchestral point of view.