Secrets of Organ Playing Week 54 – Préambule from ’24 Pièces en style libre’ op 31 no 1 (1913) – Louis Vierne

Vierne was the famous blind organist at Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death during a recital in 1937. Apart from some isolated organ pieces, his main organ output consists of 6 organ symphonies, 24 pièces de fantaisie and 24 pièces en style libre, the latter intended for harmonium but equally playable on pipe organ. Like Widor, his organ output was outnumbered by compositions for piano, chamber ensembles and vocal music.

The Préambule is the first piece of the 24 pièce and shows wonderful harmonies among the velvety foundation stops which were typical of the French romantic organ.

The organ upon which I am playing was built by Théodore Puget in 1890 and was originally installed in] the Sacré Coeur Convent in 1890. Owing to the anti-clerical political events in France around 1904 and which prohibited religious instruction in the schools, the mother superior of Sacré Coeur order had little choice other than to close 42 convents and send their contents out of France to avoid their being confiscated by the French government. The arrival of this rare organ arrival in Sydney in 1905 is an historic accident. The same can be said for the antique choir stalls and other exquisite French furnishings. I was assistant consult for this organ’s restoration which was complete in 2012. It is the only French organ in New South Wales.