Charles-Marie Widor
(1844-1937)

Largely known today for his 'Toccata' from the 5th Organ Symphony – which many organists dread having to play for weddings (!), Charles-Marie Widor was much more wide-ranging in his compositional oeuvre than one might believe. Widor was Organiste Titulaire to St. Sulpice, Paris for 64 years and having succeeded Cesar Franck as Professor of Organ in 1890, also later became a Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatoire where his most famous pupils included Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire and Darius Milhaud. He also composed seven stage works, two orchestral symphonies plus additional symphonies with concertante organ and chorus, and concertos for piano, violin, cello, organ and various pieces of chamber music and numerous songs, in addition to ten organ symphonies – the first of their kind.

In May 1909 the 'Revue Musicale' issued a request to French composers for short piano pieces to honour the centenary of the death of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Along with Debussy, Ravel, Vincent D'Indy, Reynaldo Hahn and Paul Dukas, Widor contributed this 'Fugue'. All the pieces were published in the edition of January 1910.