Louis Vierne ‒ 12 Préludes, Op.36

Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937), 12 Préludes, Op.36 (1914 - 1915)

Performed by Georges Delvallée

00:00 - No. 1 Prologue
02:54 - No. 2 Tendresse
06:53 - No. 3 Pressentiment
10:08 - No. 4 Souvenir d'un jour de joie
12:12 - No. 5 Nostalgie
16:11 - No. 6 Par gros temps
18:22 - No. 7 Evocation d'un jour d'angoisse
23:59 - No. 8 Dans la nuit
27:27 - No. 9 Supreme appel
30:14 - No. 10 Sur une tombe
32:42 - No. 11 Adieu
37:24 - No. 12 Seul

Despite his contributions to many genres, including a symphony, songs, chamber music and several piano cycles, in the music world Louis Vierne is mainly famous as one of the eminent representatives of the French organ school, and in this field he was praised as a performer and a composer alike. It is remarkable that Vierne was almost blind from childhood (completely blind in later years) and received his initial training at the Institute of the Blind in Paris. Later, his teachers included César Franck and Charles-Marie Widor, whose specific organ style he continued in a consistent tradition. His most important position was that of a titular organist at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which he held for almost four decades. There is even rare film footage showing him at his instrument there. As an important teacher at the Paris Conservatoire and the Schola Cantorum, he strongly influenced the following generation. In 1937, Vierne died of heart failure in Notre Dame during his 1,750th concert (of cerebral apoplexy, according to his pupil and assistant Maurice Duruflé).

With his Twelve Preludes for Piano op. 36 (1914/15), Vierne expressly positions himself next to Debussy, whose 24 preludes written between 1909 and 1913 were certainly known to him. Whereas the latter are considered exemplary key works of Impressionism, in his pieces Vierne only opens himself up to the new world of sound with reservations. To a much greater extent, he follows the virtuoso prelude of the Romantic period, influenced by Chopin, and subsequent style-forming piano composers such as Liszt, Brahms or Grieg. Following the summer of 1914 and parallel to the first year of the First World War, the external events immediately affecting Vierne’s French homeland, found no expression in these pieces.

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