The Orchestral Symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor: Context, Form and Performances

This dissertation studies the five orchestral symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937), who was an organist and composer highly regarded in his own time. These works have been severely neglected by major studies of French Romantic symphonies, by symphony orchestras, and by the organ world (three of the orchestral symphonies also include organ), even though his solo organ works have remained popular in the repertory. Following an introduction that surveys the relevant extant literature, Chapter 1 situates the symphonies in the context of Widor’s long and successful professional career and within the context of symphonies by other composers in the French Romantic symphonic tradition, such as Gounod, Saint-Saëns, and Franck. In Chapter 2, I study Widor’s orchestration manual and its relation to orchestration in the five orchestral symphonies and his Symphony for organ and orchestra, Op. 42bis, a transcription of three movements from his symphonies for solo organ (Nos. 2 and 6). Chapter 3 provides a substantial study of form, addressing thematic layout and key scheme, both within and across movements, as well as the borrowing of pre-existing musical material from sacred sources (Gregorian chant and Lutheran chorale). The chapter chronicles two trends from early symphonies to late: the increasing complexity of inter-movement (cyclic) thematic relationships and the increasing sense that the final movement is the culmination of a formal trajectory that spans the entire symphony. I make a case that in the later symphonies Widor is experimenting with two-dimensional sonata form (Vande Moortele 2009), in which a multi-movement work has sonata forms within one or more individual movements and a large-scale, overarching, sonata-like trajectory that encompasses the whole piece. Chapter 4 addresses performance issues. It surveys Widor’s own comments on performance practice, provides practical considerations for performing symphonies with organ, and studies tempi choices in Widor’s recorded performance of his famous organ Toccata. The chapter concludes with a case study of Symphony No. 1, which relates form to performance, compares tempi strategies in extant recordings of the work, and communicates some personal performance ideas based on my experience performing the work with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Chapter 5 is a brief epilogue that reviews the main conclusions of the thesis and points to ideas for future research.

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