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Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (February 21, 1844
– March 12, 1937) was a France|French
organists|organist, composer and teacher. He is
best remembered today for the Toccata from his 
Symphony for Organ No. 5, which is often played at
the end of wedding ceremonies.

Widor was born in Lyons|Lyon, and initially
studied music there with his father, who was
himself an  organist. He got his first major job
as an organist at the church of Saint-Sulpice
(Paris)|Saint-Sulpice in Paris in  1870, a post he
held for the next 67 years. In 1890 he took over
from Cesar Franck as organ professor at the Paris
Conservatoire, where he later also became
composition professor.

Widor had several students in Paris who were to
become famous composers in their own right, most
notably Darius Milhaud and Marcel Dupré. He wrote
music himself for a wide variety of instruments
and  ensembles, but only his works for organ are
played with any regularity today. He wrote ten
symphonies for the organ, of which the fifth is
probably the best known thanks to its Toccata
finale.

He died in 1937, the same year as his former
student, friend, and colleague Louis Vierne.

==Sound sample==
*media:Widor_Toccata.ogg|Widor's "Toccata" (Vorbis
format, 20 seconds, 79KB), from the Organ Symphony
No. 5, probably Widor's best known movement

==External links==
*http://www.classical-composers.org/cgi-bin/ccd.cg
i?comp=widor A list of compositions by Widor on
classical-composers.org