Course 10

Organ repertoire by Louis Vierne and Charles-Marie Widor by Prof. Ben van Oosten

Dates: July 20-24 (1st week)

Description
The French organ literature from the second half of the 19th century originated from the innovations in organ design, introduced by the great French organ-builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899). Combined with the radical reform of organ playing, with the Belgian organist Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens (1823-1881) as both founder and catalyst, the symphonic aesthetic of the organs of Cavaillé-Coll gave French organ music in the second half of the 19th century a new lease of life. An ideal reciprocity between organ building, performance and composition developed, which was to determine the evolution of a new genre: the organ symphony. Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) and Louis Vierne (1870-1937) were the most important exponents of this genre.

Repertoire List
Charles-Marie Widor
Complete Organ Symphonies

Louis Vierne
Complete Organ Symphonies
24 Pièces en style libre
24 Pièces de Fantaisie

Choose which pieces from this list you want to prepare and let us know by sending an email to office@organfestival.nl. Please note that the playing time per student is limited and that we cannot guarantee that you can play all your preferred pieces. Nevertheless, choose approximately 3-5 pieces so that the professor can compile an attractive course program. If we do not receive notification of your prepared pieces, your registration will be changed to passive.

This course can not be combined with:
[1a] Organ repertoire by Johann Sebastian Bach (Havinga)
[1c] Improvisation (Ulsrud)

(1b)

About Ben van Oosten
Ben van Oosten has worked extensively with French symphonic organ music. His complete recordings of organ works by César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Alexandre Guilmant, Louis Vierne, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré have been honoured with many international record awards (including Echo Klassik, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Choc du Monde de la Musique and Diapason d'Or). He was awarded the Opus Klassik 2019 for his complete recording of César Franck's organ works. Ben van Oosten is also the author of the comprehensive Widor biography ‘Charles-Marie Widor – Father of the Organ Symphony’ (1997).
In addition to his international concert career Ben van Oosten gives organ masterclasses in many countries. He was Professor of Organ at Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam from 1994 until his retirement in 2021 when he was appointed as an honorary lecturer at this institute. Ben van Oosten is titular organist at the Grote Kerk in The Hague and artistic director of the International Organ Festival, which takes place in this church every year.