In all his time beneath the Opéra Garnier, I wonder if the Phantom ever encountered any of Louis Vierne’s organ music?
They would have had to have been early works, to be sure. Gaston Leroux’s potboiler was first serialized in 1909. According to the narrative, the Phantom would have been dead for decades, perhaps since the 1880s, or so it is believed (unless you’re Andrew Lloyd Webber). So it is much more likely for Vierne to have encountered the Phantom than the other way around.
In any case, Vierne’s home was Notre-Dame de Paris, Quasimodo’s sanctuary – a respectable distance from the Palais Garnier – and he didn’t become resident organist there until 1900. Prior to that, he was Widor’s assistant at Église Saint-Suplice, even further from the Phantom’s base of operations. But the sewers of Paris hold many mysteries, no doubt. Vierne would serve at Notre-Dame until his own death, at the console, in 1937.
That said, the purpose of this post is not to linger on the colorful circumstances of his passing, but rather to thank those who commemorate his achievements, since today happens to mark the 150th anniversary of Vierne’s birth. To celebrate the composer-performer’s artistry and influence, organists everywhere are pulling out the stops.
In our own backyard, Princeton University organist Eric Plutz will undertake a mammoth marathon of all of all Vierne’s symphonies for the instrument, presented on the Skinner organ of Princeton University Chapel. Each of the six works will be presented, in succession, beginning at the top of every hour. This event is free and will be live-streamed, starting at 4 p.m. EDT, at facebook.com/SevenEightArtists.
In the meantime, catch up on Christopher Houlihan’s “Vierne at 150” online festival. Houlihan, who is organist and director of chapel music at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, has been hosting and posting Vierne-related material all week, including conversations with Notre-Dame organist Olivier Latry, noted scholar and organist Rollin Smith, author of “Louis Vierne: Organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral,” and artist manager Phillip Truckenbrod, who talks about his 50-year career. Yesterday, Houlihan shared a preconcert lecture and demonstration.
The series will culminate in a recital of Vierne’s music by Houlihan on the college’s chapel organ. This will take place at 7 p.m. EDT. If by then you’re already well-invested in Plutz’s marathon, Houlihan’s videos are being archived for later on-demand enjoyment, at http://www.christopherhoulihan.com/schedule.
As for Plutz, if you find you have to take a break for dinner, or perhaps you’d just like a souvenir, he’s recorded all the Vierne organ symphonies for future release on the Affetto Records label.
You don’t have to be a subterranean, lovestruck, psychopathic stalker to enjoy organ music. Vierne’s output could ennoble even a Rue Morgue ourang-outang. He is to be remembered with gratitude. Joyeux sesquicentenaire, Louis Vierne!
For the edification of Ralph Fisher, and to demonstrate Vierne’s versatility as a composer of wider achievement, here are a few additional links.
Vierne’s Cello Sonata:
His Piano Quintet:
And, in case you missed it in my post the other day (which also goes into a lot of the composer’s challenges and misfortunes), his purely orchestral Symphony in A minor:
