<h1>Louis Vierne Is a BAMF (and Proof That Organists Are Metal)</h1>
<p>
Louis Vierne is a certifiable badass organist from the end of the 19th
and early 20th centuries. He was born blind and had to have surgery to
be able to distinguish shapes and objects. Did that stop him from
playing the one instrument that literally requires you to distinguish
hundreds and hundreds of small objects from each other? Nope, he just
did it (and he learned from Cesar Franck, another great organist).
</p>
<p>
In 1906 he got hit by a car and the doctors said they might have to
amputate his leg. Did you know you play an organ with both your hands
<em>and</em> both your feet? Well you do, and Vierne just re-learned how
to play with his feet after the accident. Because nobody tells Louis
Vierne no.
</p>
<p>
And because he's a badass, Vierne went on to become the official
organist at the Notre Dame in Paris, a position he won by competitively
dunking on numerous other musicians. He considered this his greatest
achievement, and what Louis Vierne says goes.
</p>
<p>
In one final act of badassery, he carried out his lifelong dream: to die
while playing at Notre Dame. In 1937, to a full recital hall in Notre
Dame, he was giving his 1,750th performance and actually
<em>had a heart-attack while playing and died at the console, and keeled
over so that the low "E" played until they removed his body</em>. To this day, no rock band has ever been so metal.
</p>
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<p>
Alright, so without the decoration, Louis Vierne is my favorite Organist
and composer from the period. The organ is, in my opinion, the coolest
instrument on the planet. It's the biggest, the loudest, and the most
impressive. It's also got the most wide and interesting array of sounds,
like having an orchestra at your fingertips. Vierne made some of my
favorite music for the organ (music that my lowly organ skills will
never let me play). He's also, obviously, pretty badass.
</p>
<p>
In truth, I think all organists are pretty cool. They play a cool,
complicated instrument that really sounds like no other. They also play
with their hands and their feet. Someone once said when a musician mates
with an octopus, an organist is born. Come to think of it, Davy Jones
plays the Organ and he's pretty cool. Coincidence? I think not.
</p>
<p>
If you get the chance, give Vierne a listen, you can look up his work on
YouTube or a Pandora Radio station in his name. Look especially for
Symphony No. 1 for Organ in D Minor, Op. 14. That's the first song I
heard of his live (and in my understanding is the one he was playing
when he died).
</p>
