Widor's best-known piece for the organ is this Toccata and is often played at the close of the Christmas Midnight Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican.
Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (February 1844 – March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is known for his ten organ symphonies, especially the Toccata from his fifth organ symphony, which is frequently played as recessional music at weddings and other celebrations. He is the longest-serving organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, a role he held for 63 years (January 1870 – December 1933). He also was organ professor at the Paris Conservatory from 1890 to 1896 (following César Franck) and then he became professor of composition at the same institution. Widor was a prolific composer, writing music for organ, piano, voice and ensembles. As well as his ten organ symphonies, he also wrote three symphonies for orchestra and organ, several songs for piano and voice, four operas and a ballet. Widor was born in Lyon, France to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music with his father, Hungarian-born François-Charles Widor who was the organist at Saint-François-de-Sales. The French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, reviver of the art of organ building, was a friend of the Widor family; he arranged for the talented young organist to study in Brussels in 1863 with Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens for organ technique and with the elderly François-Joseph Fétis, director of the Brussels Conservatoire, for composition. After this term of study, Widor moved to Paris where he resided for the rest of his life. At the age of 24, he was appointed assistant to Camille Saint-Saëns at Église de la Madeleine.
Widor's best-known piece for the organ is this Toccata and is often played at the close of the Christmas Midnight Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican. The Toccata is characteristic of French Romantic organ music and serves as a model for later works by Gigout, Boëllmann, Mulet, Vierne and Dupré. Widor was pleased with the worldwide renown this single piece afforded him, but he was unhappy with how fast many other organists played it. Widor himself always played the Toccata rather deliberately. Many organists play it at a very fast tempo whereas Widor preferred a more controlled articulation to be involved. He recorded the piece, at St. Sulpice aged 89; the tempo used for the Toccata is quite slow.
