LDV113-4

33 MICHEL BOUVARD In your opinion, what influence did Franck have on his successors? Louis Vierne was certainly influenced by him, and even Marcel Dupré, for example in the texture of the last page of the first movement in his Symphonie-Passion of 1924. Franck’s style influenced Charles-Marie Widor too, even though he never wanted to acknowledge his debt to Franck. That said, Widor was the composer who best showcased the possibilities of the Cavaillé-Coll organ. Vierne, on the other hand, had a great harmonic sensibility. I’ve always regretted that Vierne and Widor couldn’t have been a single composer who combined all those qualities!