I still maintain that Franck, Widor, et. al., didn't play their Cavaille Colls as fast as some of these people play nowdays.
That's a pretty widespread belief, but there is some evidence pointing in a different direction.
It is true that Widor is on record complaining about fast tempi. Except that he probably forgot that
he himself played faster in his youth: just compare the evolution of metronome markings between successive editions. The Toccata was marked quarter=118 in earlier editions, to end up at quarter=100 in the last edition (his own recording clocking at about quarter=94). In the first part of the 5th symphony, things are even more extreme: in the last edition, the
scherzando starting at bar 181 is marked quarter=96, and the tempo
stays there until the end, whereas in earlier editions, Widor also marks quarter=96 at the same spot, but then
increases the tempo in several steps, until the
animato section where it reaches a staggering quarter=144! :nut:
As for Franck, there exists a sheet in his own handwriting giving the following tempi for the
Six Pièces, which most people today would find surprisingly fast.
op 16
poco lento, quarter=80
allegretto, quarter=104
quasi lento, quarter=80
adagio, eighth=69
op 17
andantino, quarter=112
allegro non troppo, half=104
andante, quarter=72
allegro, quarter=126
andante, quarter=72
allegro non troppo, half=104
andante, quarter=72
op 18
cantabile, dotted quarter=72
lento, quarter=60
allegro non troppo, quarter=112
andantino, dotted quarter=72
op 19
andantino, quarter=76
quasi allegretto, quarter=126
andantino, quarter=76
op 20
quarter=62
op 21
half=100