Johann Sebastian Bach: The Organist and His Works for the Organ

Written by the great French organist Charles-Marie Widor, this book offers an intimate, insider's perspective on Johann Sebastian Bach's life and organ works. Widor, who held the prestigious organist position at Saint-Sulpice in Paris for nearly fifty years and composed eight monumental organ symphonies, approached Bach not as a distant scholar but as a fellow master of the instrument. His account, composed in the late 19th century, captures a moment when Bach's organ music was experiencing a significant revival in performance practice. Widor traces Bach's development as an organist, examines the technical and artistic demands of his compositions, and illuminates how the master's works shaped the very tradition Widor himself inherited. The book resonates with the practical wisdom of someone who played these works daily and understood their mysteries firsthand. For organists, musicologists, and anyone passionate about Baroque music, Widor's observations remain invaluable, offering a window into how one great interpreter understood another.