Awesome Music / Louis Vierne

Louis Vierne was one of many French organists and composers to study under Charles-Marie Widor, and while he is justly remembered as an outstandingly talented performer,^note  He famously suffered a fatal stroke or heart attack (eyewitness accounts disagree on which it was) while preparing for an improvised encore after a performance on the instrument with which he was most closely associated, the organ at Notre-Dame de Paris, a performance which audience members described as one of his very best. he also left a truly awesome body of work as a composer.

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• Vierne wrote two sets of 24 pieces in all the major and minor keys for organ, reminiscent of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier. One of the most stunning pieces from the earlier set, entitled Pièces en style libre ("Pieces in free style"), is No.21 in B-flat major, Carillon de Longpont. The motoric ostinato which dominates the piece is based on the melody of the chapel bells from the Chateau de Longpont, and Vierne's treatment of it radiates grandeur and splendour from every note.
• Vierne's second set of 24 pieces in all the major and minor keys for organ, Pièces de fantaisie, is so vast he had to publish it as four separate sets of six, every one a winner.
  • In the first set, following the buoyant Prélude, the eerie Andantino, the unsettled Caprice, the jaunty Intermezzo, and the solemn Requiem Aeternam (the main theme of which quotes the "Dies irae" plainchant theme), the final piece is the triumphant Marche Nuptiale, a recessional march that swells with pride and majesty from the opening block chords in the manuals through to the double octave triplets in the pedal in the final measures. The return of the opening melody in the pedal three-quarters of the way into the piece is especially powerful.^note  Although the heavy use of dissonance adds a slightly sinister edge to the piece, perhaps motivated by Vierne's own unhappy experience with the institution of marriage; his wife had an affair that produced a child, and they separated after just ten years on condition that Vierne never re-marry.
  • The second set of Pièces de fantaisie opens with the doleful Lamento (notable for its very forward-looking harmonic language) and the graceful Sicilienne (which has a truly radiant final-measure minor-to-major transition), and also includes the serene Clair de Lune (one of the most frequently performed and recorded pieces across all four suites, it is also forward-looking in its harmonies and features two-voice counterpoint in the pedals in its centre section). The other three pieces in the set are where the true awesome appears:
    • The exuberant Hymne au Soleil shines every bit as brightly as the celestial body to which it pays tribute, the four-voice chords in the manuals in the outer sections filling every inch of the room (or church) with a melody that returns in glorious fashion in the piece's final third.
    • The restless Feux-follets darts in and out, suddenly building and just as quickly cutting off, painting a compelling musical picture of the will-o'-the-wisp, lights that flicker and flash and then vanish just as swiftly as they appear, leaving us wondering if we imagined them.
    • The set finishes off with the brutal Toccata, the first of the Pièces de fantaisie to fall squarely under Ominous Pipe Organ. Technically demanding and emotionally dark, with perpetual motion semiquavers over octave hops back and forth in the pedals, it charges along like a runaway train, retreats into the shadows for the softer yet more ominous centre section, and finally re-emerges, culminating in a dense double note passage in both hands followed by block chords over a virtuoso pedal passage, its fires burning brightly to the very end.
  • In the third set of Pièces de fantaisie, the first three pieces are the reverent Dédicace, the playful Impromptu (another of the most frequently performed and recorded pieces across all four suites, it has a real sense of fun even before it hops from minor to major for the coda), and the shimmering Étoile du soir. The second three pieces are where things really take off:
    • The spooky Fantômes^note  Vierne expressly instructed that this piece was for concert performances only, not church services. opens with two heavy, dissonant chords posing the question of "the Evoker": "Who then prepares the future?" (the future of music, specifically). The bulk of the piece is a five-way attempt to answer this question. A recurring arugment sets "the Young Esthete", whose parallel octave arabesque theme states that the future is his since he is free, against "the Old Pedant", whose Gregorian chant-inspired theme claims that the future is his as he guards the traditions. They are interrupted twice, first when "the Negro" and his sprightly theme suggest that the future belongs to the dancer, and second when "the Monkey" and "the Beggar" alternately declare that future is in the hands of, respectively, fancy and misery (the latter represented by a hurdy-gurdy-like rendition of "O Sole Mio"), all while "the Evoker" repeats the question. But it is Fate itself that has the final, hushed word about the future: "It is nowhere and everywhere."
    • With the towering Sur le Rhin, another sterling example of Ominous Pipe Organ, Vierne pays homage to the river separating France and Germany. The outer sections feature a theme that is equal parts majestic and intimidating, and in the conclusion of the piece, it is accompanied by parallel octaves in the pedal, all building up to a spectacular block chord passage in which the minor key clouds finally part for what is easily the most transcendent major resolution of the six that appear across all four sets.^note  The other five - the Andantino and Requiem Aeternam from the first set, the Lamento and Sicilienne from the second set, and the Impromptu from the third set - either represent sorrowful works finding inner peace in their final measures or allow a light-hearted piece to become even more so for its conclusion.
    • By far the most well-known piece in the collection is the sparkling Carillon de Westminster. Vierne starts with the full set of melodies played by the famous "Big Ben" chimes^note  Well, nearly; he gets the "half hour" chime slightly wrong, reversing the second and third notes of the first phrase and starting the second phrase on the dominant, not the tonic, but the difference, whether an honest mistake or a deliberate choice by Vierne (the fact that in the four appearances of the first three "quarters", he does get the two "half hour" phrases correct once each, seems to point to the latter), almost doesn't matter. and constructs a spectacular virtuoso toccata around it that builds to a conclusion every bit as monumental as the clock tower to which it pays homage, especially as the "hour chimes" are condensed into a twelve-note figure that booms forth from the pedal in the coda.
  • The fourth set of Pièces de fantaisie gets going even sooner than the first three. After opening with the charming Aubade and the haunting Résignation, Vierne finishes off the set of twenty-four pieces in style:
    • The gargantuan Cathédrales, the longest of the Pièces de fantaisie in most renditions, opens with a pedal theme that returns in the piece's climax, every bit as glorious and majestic as the cavernous interiors of Gothic cathedrals - particularly Vierne's beloved Notre Dame de Paris - to which it pays homage, ultimately giving way to a serene coda that almost functions as a benediction after all that has gone before.
    • The flighty Naïades is a contender for the title of most technically demanding piece across all four sets. It features a perpetual motion triplet figure that swoops and soars, occasionally played in counterpoint with a songlike figure as the water spirits represented by the piece call out to passing sailors before swimming down below the sea's surface and then up again.
    • The sinister Gargouilles et Chimères pays tribute to the exterior of the Gothic cathedrals from two pieces earlier, opening with gloomy parallel chords in the manuals that mark yet another foray into Ominous Pipe Organ, and featuring faster outbursts based on three melodic ideas that are as compelling as they are grotesque.
    • Though somewhat overshadowed by the other tribute to English bells, the majestic Les Cloches de Hinckley is still a worthy finale to the massive Pièces de fantaisie collection. It takes its cue from the descending scale played by the church bells in the village of Hinckley and sculpts a whirlwind of organ brilliance around it, anchored by a chorale-like melodic figure and culminating with 28 consecutive rapid descending scales in the right hand over block chords in the left hand and, eventually, half speed descending scales in the pedal.
• Vierne's six organ symphonies are awesome on a truly grand scale befitting the instrument for which they were composed.
  • The Finale of No.1 in D minor was such a hit in his day that Vierne called it "my Marseillaise" and it's easy to understand why. It's written with a repeating cascade of notes in the upper register and adds a triumphant fanfare in the pedals, which goes through several different harmonic variations and repetitions, each one showing Vierne's gift for variations, able to repeat the same melody several times while keeping each one fresh.
  • The first movement of No.3 in F-sharp minor, with the opening motif popping up again and again throughout, is brilliantly written to show off the instrument's range and the organist's talent,^note Yes, the opening and closing is played in three-octave unison, meaning the organist is following the melodic line with his feet. making Ominous Pipe Organ a thing of beauty and majesty in and of itself.

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