Widor, Charles-Marie

[…] like all M. Widor’s compositions, it has earnestness of purpose, great originality, and no small amount of melodic beauty.“ Außerdem wird die durchdachte und delikate Instrumentation mit vielen kostbaren Details gelobt. Zwei Jahre später schrieb Arthur Pougin in der Zeitschrift Le Ménestrel vom großen Erfolg einer Aufführung der Fantaisie. Sie sei ein ernsthaftes, inspiriertes, meisterhaftes Werk. Er lobte Widor überschwänglich als einen großen Komponisten. Wiederum in London wurde dieses Musikstück im Mai 1909 aufgeführt, als Widor in der Queen’s Hall mehrere seiner Werke dirigierte. Kurz danach erschien in Le Ménestrel eine Kritik, die die Fantaisie als eines der schönsten pianistischen Werke der zeitgenössischen Musik bezeichnet. Und als am 9. Mai 1934 ein Abschiedskonzert zu Ehren des betagten Widor im Salle Érard veranstaltet wurde, dirigiert Paul Paray neben Widors beiden Klavierkonzerte auch die Fantaisie. 1938 — also nach Widors Tod — wurde das Werk vom Orchestre de la Société Philharmonique de Paris unter Charles Münch mit dem Pianisten Marcelle Herrenschmidt auf Tonträger aufgenommen und ist als historische Aufnahme heute noch erhältlich.

Die etwa 20 Minuten lange Fantaisie ist einem einzigen Satz mit 556 Takten komponiert. Sie steht in der Grundtonart As-Dur, moduliert aber im Verlauf durchaus in weit entfernte Regionen. Markant ist das wiederkehrende Hauptthema, das zu Beginn als eine schlichte, lyrische Streicherkantilene im langsam wiegenden (Tempo Adagio) 6/8-Takt exponiert wird. Fantasieartig frei entwickeln sich in über 130 Takten Variationen dieses Themas, jeweils mit abwechslungsreichen Ausdrucksverhältnissen. Doch dann folgt nach einer kurzen Überleitung ein sehr kontrastreiches zweites Thema (ab Takt 144). Es handelt sich um ein scherzohaftes c-Moll-Thema im 2/4-Takt, welches das Klavier im Allegro con brio virtuos ausbreitet. Schließlich kehrt die Musik ab Takt 247 wieder in die lyrische Sphäre zurück — teilweise mit dem Hauptthema, teilweise mit neuen melodischen Erfindungen. Es folgt ein ausgedehnter Bereich (298 – 465), der wieder vom zweiten Thema beherrscht wird und eine richtige Klavierkadenz enthält. Schließlich wird das Hauptthema vom Orchester — vor dem Hintergrund einer virtuosen Klavierbegleitung — noch einmal glanzvoll dargestellt (466 – 527). Eine Coda (528 – 556), die in ihrem Ausdruck an das zweite Thema erinnert, schließt das Werk glanzvoll ab.
Widor selbst bezeichnete seine Fantaisie in einem Brief als sehr symphonisch. Symphonisch ist hier zum einen der Themendualismus, der jedoch weniger in motivisch-thematischer Arbeit forciert wird als mehr in abwechslungsreichen Kontrasten. Die beiden Themen „kämpfen“ nicht miteinander, sie wechseln sich organisch ab. Anders als in seinen Symphonien wird hier auch kein Thema in einen apotheotischen Schlusspunkt geführt. Symphonisch ist in der Fantaisie aber auf jeden Fall die filigrane Instrumentation und das Verhältnis zwischen Solist und Orchester.

Daniel Barbarello, 2009

Aufführungsmaterial ist bei Durand, Paris erhältlich.

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Charles-Marie Widor

(b. Lyon, 21 February 1844 — d. Paris, 12 March 1937)

Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre
opus 62

Preface
Those who know of Charles-Marie Widor generally recall him as a virtuoso organist, an organ teacher, and a composer of so-called organ symphonies. In fact, however, he was also an active pianist and conductor, taught composition at the Paris Conservatoire, and wrote music in virtually every genre, producing piano pieces and chamber music, operas and ballets, theater scores and distinctive orchestral works in the symphonic and concertante styles. His organ music — as significant as it may be — by no means constitutes the bulk of his oeuvre. One of his roughly twenty orchestral works is the Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre, op. 62.

Charles-Marie Widor
Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor was born in Lyons on 21 February 1844 to a musically renowned family and received his earliest organ lessons from his father. His extraordinary talent soon became so evident that, at the recommendation of the famous organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, he was sent to Brussels to study with the celebrated organist Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens and to learn counterpoint, fugue, and composition from François-Joseph Fétis. In 1870 he was appointed titular organist at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris – a position he would hold for a total of sixty-four years. By the turn of the century Widor had written a large number of compositions in almost every genre. He was also active as a music critic and essayist, thereby leaving behind a large number of his thoughts on music. He took over the organ class at the Paris Conservatoire in 1890 and the composition class in 1896. His revised version of Berlioz’s Traité d’instrumentation, entitled Technique de l’orchestre moderne (1904), became the standard manual for French composers.

For the whole of his life Widor’s musical language remained beholden to the nineteenth-century tradition of late romanticism. As a result, after the turn of the century, he was increasingly regarded as conservative and became a grand seigneur of French music, a living legend and the recipient of a long list of awards and distinctions. He died on 12 March 1937 at the age of ninety-three.

Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre, op. 62
On 23 February 1889 the Orchestre des Concerts Colonne gave a concert in the Salle Érard, Paris, consisting entirely of Widor’s compositions under his own baton. Isidor Philipp took the solo part in the Concerto, op. 39, and gave the world première of the Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre, op. 62. Philipp, a pianist of Hungarian extraction who was a professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1893, first met Widor in 1886 and became not only an important performer of his piano music but one of his closest friends. Fittingly, the Fantaisie is dedicated to him.

The Fantaisie is one of Widor’s works that received high acclaim and remained in the concert repertoire until his death. In London, for example, Widor conducted the piece in March 1890 to open the seventy-eighth season of the Philharmonic Society, again with Philipp taking the solo part. The London Times ran a highly positive review, claiming that the Fantaisie was far more than just a brilliant and effective bravura piece: “[L]ike all M. Widor’s compositions, it has earnestness of purpose, great originality, and no small amount of melodic beauty.” Praise was also bestowed on the intelligent and refined orchestration with its many choice details. Two years later Arthur Pougin, writing in Le Ménestrel, spoke of the great success of a performance of the Fantaisie, calling it a serious, inspired, masterly work and praising Widor to the skies as a great composer. The piece was heard once again in London in May 1909, when Widor conducted several of his works in Queen’s Hall. Shortly thereafter a review in Le Ménestrel called the piece one of the most beautiful creations for the piano in contemporary music. And when a farewell concert was given for the elderly composer in the Salle Érard on 9 May 1934, the Fantaisie was heard alongside Widor’s two piano concertos under the baton of Paul Paray. In 1938, after Widor’s death, the piece was recorded by the Orchestre de la Société Philharmonique de Paris under Charles Munch with the pianist Marcelle Herrenschmidt – an historical recording still available today.

The Fantaisie is a work of roughly twenty minutes’ duration laid out in a single 556-bar movement. It is set in the tonic key of A-flat major but modulates to remote regions as the music progresses. Especially striking is the recurring main theme, first heard as a plain, lyrical cantilena for the strings in a slow, undulating 6/8 meter (Adagio). This theme is then freely developed in 130 bars of variations, each with its own expressive emphasis. There follows a brief transition to a highly contrasting second theme (mm. 144 ff.), a scherzo-like melody in C minor and 2/4 meter on which the pianist expatiates in a virtuosic Allegro con brio. The lyrical mood returns in bar 247, partly with the main theme, and partly with fresh melodic ideas, followed by an extended section (mm. 298-465) again dominated by the second theme and containing a proper solo cadenza. Finally the main theme is stated in splendid regalia by the full orchestra, backed by a virtuosic piano accompaniment (mm. 466-527). A coda (mm. 528-56) recalling the mood of the second theme brings the work to a brilliant conclusion.

Widor himself referred to the Fantaisie in a letter as highly symphonic. Its symphonic side is evident first of all in its use of two contrasting themes, which, however, rather than being subjected to thematic-motivic manipulation, are juxtaposed in a variety of contrasts. Instead of “struggling” with each other, the two themes are allowed to unfold in organic succession. Unlike Widor’s symphonies, the Fantaisie does not lead a theme to a final apotheosis. But whatever the case, the gossamer orchestration and the relation between the soloist and the orchestra are symphonic in every sense.

Daniel Barbarello, 2009

For performance materials please contact the publishers Durand, Paris.