Organ Symphony

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An Organ Symphony is a piece for solo pipe organ in various movements. It is a symphonic genre, not so much in musical form (which it shares with the organ sonata), but in imitating orchestral tone color and texture.

Though the very first organ symphony was written by German composer Wilhelm Valentin Volckmar in 1867, the genre is mainly associated with French late romanticism and composers like Charles-Marie Widor, who wrote ten organ symphonies and may be seen as the true creator of the genre, and his pupil Louis Vierne. Both were inspired by the instruments of French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.

The name Organ Symphony is sometimes also (but not quite properly) attributed to symphonies for organ and orchestra, like Camille Saint-Saëns' famous Symphony No. 3.