Third Symphony op. 28

Louis Vierne (1870-1937) was a pupil of César Franck. He deputised for Charles-Marie Widor at St.-Sulpice (Paris) from 1892 onwards, before being appointed titulaire organist at Notre-Dame (Paris).

Vierne’s organ compositions are masterpieces of organ music and form an integral part of the virtuoso organ repertoire. In particular, Vierne raised the form of the organ symphony to new heights and influenced the development of organ technique worldwide. His musical language was influenced to a large extent by his teacher César Franck; there are also compositional elements of Claude Debussy.

Vierne’s Third Symphony is frequently regarded as his masterwork. It marks an expansion of his harmonic language. The present Urtext edition of the Third Symphony represents one of the composer’s versions, established through a comparative analysis of the autograph and first printed edition.