Widor: Symphonie VIII

Charles-Marie Widor continued to develop the genre of the organ symphony in his second set of four works, published as Symphonies pour orgue, opus 42 (1878–87). The introduction to this edition of Widor's Symphonie VIII includes a list of the sources, a statement of editorial policies, and information about Widor's registrations. Symphonie VIII in B Major, in six movements, is a monumental work with a performance time of about an hour. In this symphony, which at the time of composition Widor considered to be his last, he pushed organ technique to the limit and exhausted the tonal possibilities of the instrument. Also included in this edition are four appendices containing selected principal variants, with the original Prélude movement that was removed from the symphony for unknown reasons.

[I] Allegro risoluto

II. Moderato cantabile

III. Allegro

IV. Variations: Andante

V. Adagio

VI. Finale: Tempo giusto

 

Appendix 1: [I] Editions B and B′, Mm. 34–40, 52–56, 68–85, 135–38, 146–52, 168–85, 215–20

Appendix 2: III. Version B/B′, Mm. 229–49

Appendix 3: IV. Prélude, Version B/B′

Appendix 4: VII. Finale, Edition B, Mm. 261–69

Sven Hiemke, Die Musikforschung, February 1995