October 8th marks the 140th
anniversary of Louis Victor Jules Vierne, famed French organist and no stranger
to tragedy. Although the dramatic extent of Vierne’s life varies among sources,
one cannot deny the presence of some unfortunate circumstances appearing in his
music.
Vierne was born in 1870 to doting parents in Poitiers.
Facing the odds from the beginning, Vierne suffered from congenital cataracts
rendering him nearly blind. Previously thought to be inoperable, his father, a
journalist, facilitated an operation by the inventor of the iridectomy – the introduction
of an artificial pupil to the iris. This revolutionary procedure allowed Vierne
to be what we consider today, legally blind.
Although severely visually impaired, Vierne was not without
tremendous talent. His musical inclination was visible at a very early age and
fostered by his uncle, Charles Colin, professor of Oboe at the Paris
Conservatory and winner of the Prix de Rome.
Although Colin was an accomplished oboist – his works still performed
widely – he was also an organist, and first introduced his new nephew to the
instrument on which he excelled.
At age 11, Vierne lost his uncle to an acute respiratory
illness and found himself simultaneously devastated with grief but with a
renewed fervor to pursue a career as an organ recitalist. His father continued
to be supportive both emotionally and financially until the time of his death which would come prematurely.
By the age of 15, Vierne had learned to read Braille as a result of partial
blindness, become an organ phenomenon and lost his two strongest mentors and
supporters – his uncle, and now his father.
Determined to persevere as an organist and composer, Louis
Vierne became a pupil of the renowned Cesar Franck at the Paris Conservatory. One
year later, no stranger to tragedy, the young man found himself another loss with
which to contend. Cesar Franck was killed suddenly as the result of a tragic
traffic incident. Vierne continued his studies at the conservatory haunted by
the death of so many seminal figures in his life at the young age of 19.
Vierne’s career took off, and he was appointed assistant
organist at Church of Saint-Sulpice. After winning a fierce competition, he was
finally appointed organist of the Cathedral at Notre Dame and married soprano,
Arlette Taskin. Vierne took many pupils that would later become fixed marks in
music, including Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Duruflé. Things were looking up.
But tragedy has a way of following us around. Over the next
decade, Louis Vierne would divorce his wife as a result of her affair with his friend, an
organ-builder – oh the irony. He would lose both brothers in the battlefields of
World War 1, lose a child to tuberculosis and nearly lose his own leg in an
automobile accident that would come close to costing his career at the organ. This is
where most people would give up and live a life of relative obscurity.
Not Vierne. He continued composing, teaching and performing. He
even embarked on a North American tour to raise funds for the restoration of
his beloved instrument at Notre Dame that had fallen into disrepair. The tour included a performance on the Wanamaker Organ in
Philadelphia. Through the face of
immense personal tragedy, Vierne’s career flourished. Music was his refuge, and
he often remarked to friends that he wished his death to be in the midst of
creation, to die while at the organ.
On June 2nd, 1937 with Maurice Duruflé at this
side, Louis Vierne got his wish. He suffered a heart attack at the Cathedral of
Notre Dame, on the bench mid-performance, at the console of his beloved instrument that never let him down. When
he collapsed, his foot hit the E pedal, echoing relief and peace throughout the
Nave of Notre Dame.
Posts
