Vierne: Organ Symphonies Nos. 3 and 6

The French organist and composer Louis Vierne was born in Poitiers in 1870. He was almost blind at birth and was encouraged by his uncle, Charles Colin, a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, to study music at the Institution des jeunes aveugles, after the family had settled in Paris in 1877. There his studies included piano, organ and violin and he completed his training at the Institution with the highest honours. He went on to study with César Franck, by whose music and playing he had been strongly impressed, and after Franck's death he entered the organ class of Widor at the Conservatoire, later deputising for and finally succeeding his teacher as organist at St Sulpice. He served as an assistant to Widor and to Guilmant at the Conservatoire and from 1912 taught at the Schola Cantorum. In 1900 he competed successfully for the position of organist at Notre Dame and retained this employment until his death in 1937, during the course of his 1750th recital.