Miscellaneous, Musing

Did You Know/RDP Sunday: organ

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Today at RDP, we are asked to share a
story, poem, photo, painting, essay, etc.,
focusing on the word ‘organ’. I chose to
include today’s prompt as a feature in my
“Did You Know?” blog. Here’s my take.

Louis Vierne
© Discogs

Born on October 8,1870, French organist and composer Louis Vierne was born blind with a congenital cataract condition. At the age of six his sight improved enough that he could recognize people, see nearby objects and read large type at close range; he began to study piano, followed by the organ in 1886. Vierne was named assistant titular organist at Notre Dame, advancing to titular organist in 1900.

Since Louis Vierne was holding the most prestigious organ post in Paris, he expected to be named Professor of Organ. This was not the case, however, and his failure to be appointed greatly depressed him …. something from which he never fully recovered. At this point, Vierne was almost totally blind and in ill health; he was also grieving the death of his son and his brother. Additionally, he was beset by financial problems.

On June 2, 1937, Louis Vierne gave his 1,750th organ recital at Notre Dame, playing “Stèle pour un enfant défunt” from his Triptyque, Op. 58. It is an oddly dissonant piece which reflects Vierne’s depressed mood at the time. He completed the main concert, which members of the audience said showed him playing at his best. While preparing for his next piece, Vierne suddenly pitched forward and fell off the bench as his foot hit the low “E” pedal of the organ. He lost consciousness as the single note echoed throughout the church. He had thus fulfilled his oft-stated lifelong dream …. to die at the console of the great organ of Notre Dame.

NAR©2025

This is the last piece Louis Vierne ever played, “Stèle pour un enfant défunt”, Triptyque, Op. 58

RDP Sunday: organ

All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

24 thoughts on “Did You Know/RDP Sunday: organ”

  9. What a sad ending, the piece he was playing is also very sombre, I think the meaning is something like ‘monument or marker for a dead child’, so that is not surprising – interesting read Nancy, I had not heard of him before 💞

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  10. I never heard of him…but thanks. What a sad story but at least he died doing what he loved…but geez…name the guy Professor of Organ…it shouldn’t have been that hard. He had to be great or we would not be talking about him over a century since. I love the organ so I like that piece.

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    1. Thanks, Max. This is definitely not my favorite piece; in fact, I didn’t really like it but to feature a different piece wouldn’t have made sense. As an organ player myself, I can attest to how difficult it is to play one of these magnificent instruments. I never heard of him either; his name popped up in a trivia app I have on my phone and I was intrigued by his bio. Really, throw the guy a bone and give him the freaking title! That’s the least they could have done!

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