Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Examples
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: “You know Bach: you know all”
- Part One Background
- Part Two Maxims
- Appendix 1 Symphonies pour orgue, “Avant-propos”
- Appendix 2 Technique de l'orchestre moderne, “L'orgue”
- Appendix 3 Initiation musicale, “L'orgue”
- Appendix 4 L'orgue moderne; La décadence dans la facture contemporaine
- Appendix 5 Key to Widor's System of Abbreviated Registration, Symphonie gothique, First Movement
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Appendix 4 - L'orgue moderne; La décadence dans la facture contemporaine
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Examples
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: “You know Bach: you know all”
- Part One Background
- Part Two Maxims
- Appendix 1 Symphonies pour orgue, “Avant-propos”
- Appendix 2 Technique de l'orchestre moderne, “L'orgue”
- Appendix 3 Initiation musicale, “L'orgue”
- Appendix 4 L'orgue moderne; La décadence dans la facture contemporaine
- Appendix 5 Key to Widor's System of Abbreviated Registration, Symphonie gothique, First Movement
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Widor's booklet first appeared in 1928 and was revised in 1932, after the restoration and rededication of the great Cavaillé-Coll organ in Notre-Dame, Paris. An English translation of the 1932 edition was made by Walter Holtkamp and Marcel Vigneras, and published in the Diapason, January 1942 (pages 18–19) and February 1942 (page 12), with a kind of disclaimer by the journal: “M. Widor throws interesting light on the organs and organists of the period of which he writes, making his article of value to the organ devotee of today, who, of course, will read it with due allowance for the fact that some opinions expressed at the time probably would be revised today by M. Widor in the light of developments of the past ten years.” To this, Holtkamp and Vigneras added their own perspective:
Translators’ Foreword
Charles Marie Widor presents an instructive and delightful account of French organ building from ancient times to the year 1932. Unlike many similar critical essays, M. Widor bases his judgment of organs on musical and aesthetic grounds, and his opinions are therefore valuable as well as interesting to present-day students. Curiously, M. Widor dismisses with merely an allusion to “the rich pipes of Clicquot” both the ancient French organ and its music; these he seems to consider trivial as compared to the wonderful achievements in the Cavaillé-Coll era. Today the work of the pre–Cavaillé- Coll period is held once more in high esteem; in some respects even, the relative estimate of the work of the two periods, in spite of M. Widor's judgment, has actually been reversed. Also, it is gratifying to be able to relate, the decadence described by M. Widor is being vigorously counteracted, and French organ building is again making its mark. The careful reader of M. Widor's essay will find therein a great deal to help him understand and appreciate the music of the nineteenth century French organ school. Thanks [are] due Melville Smith for generous help in preparing this translation.
This appendix is based on the Holtkamp/Vigneras translation (used here with permission of the Diapason), though extensively revised with tacit corrections of syntax, corrections and modifications in the translation, and additional text that the original translators either omitted on purpose or by oversight.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Widor on Organ Performance Practice and Technique , pp. 97 - 110Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2019