Charles-Marie Widor composed his fifth Organ Symphony in 1879 (later he revised it in 1901 and 1918). It is a work in five movements, in the key of F minor, catalogued as no. 1 of his Op. 42. It was premiered in the 19th October 1879 in the Palais du Trocadéro (Paris) by the composer. It first appeared in print that same year. Though Widor wrote music for a great variety of ensembles, only his organ works are regularly played today, of which his Organ Symphonies are the most notable. Widor was at the front of a revival in French organ music, which had become almost extinct during the nineteenth century. A new generation of organs, however, made it possible to write complex pieces which spawned a general revival, not only in France, but in Germany and the rest of Europe. The Op. 42 Organ Symphonies represent a step in a more mature way for Widor, who had written four of this pieces earlier in his career, catalogued now as Op. 13.
