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César Franck

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César Franck, c.1872

César Franck (December 10, 1822 – November 8, 1890), a composer, organist and music teacher of Belgian and German origin who lived in France, was one of the great figures in Romantic music in the second half of the 19th century.

Biography

House Grady in Liège, where César Franck was born

César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck was born in Liège, Belgium to a father from the German-Belgian border and a German mother. His father had ambitions for him to become a concert pianist, and he studied at the conservatoire in Liège before going to the Paris Conservatoire in 1835 where he studied under Antonin Rejcha for an year. Upon leaving in 1842 he briefly returned to Belgium, but went back to Paris in 1844 and remained there for the rest of his life. His decision to give up a career as a virtuoso led to strained relations with his father during this time.

During his first years in Paris, Franck made his living by teaching, both privately and institutionally. He also held various posts as organist: from 1847 to 1851 he was organist at Notre Dame de Lorette, and from 1851 to 1858 he was organist at St Jean-St François. During this time he became familiar with the work of the famous French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, and he also worked on developing his technique as an organist and improviser.

In 1858, he became organist at the newly-consecrated Saint Clotilde Basilica, where he remained until his death. Here he began to attract attention for his skill as an improviser. His first set of organ compositions, however, was not published until 1868, when he was 46 years old, though it contains one of his finest organ pieces, the Grande Pièce Symphonique. From 1872 to his death he was Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatory. His pupils included Vincent d'Indy, Ernest Chausson, Louis Vierne, and Henri Duparc. As an organist he was particularly noted for his skill in improvisation, and on the basis of merely twelve major organ works, Franck is by many considered the greatest composer of organ music after J. S. Bach. His works were some of the finest organ pieces to come from France in over a century, and laid the groundwork for the French symphonic organ style. In particular, his Grande Pièce Symphonique, a 25-minute work, paved the way for the organ symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor, Louis Vierne, and Marcel Dupré.

César Franck, organist

In 1890, Franck was involved in a serious traffic accident. It was after this accident that he wrote his Trois chorals for organ. Franck died as a result of complications from the accident very shortly after finishing the chorales. He was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.

Style

Many of Franck's works employ "cyclic form", a method of achieving unity among several movements in which all of the principal themes of the work are generated from a germinal motif. The main melodic subjects, thus interrelated, are then recapitulated in the final movement. His music is often contrapuntally complex, using a harmonic language that is prototypically late Romantic, showing a great deal of influence from Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. In his compositions, Franck showed a talent and a penchant for frequent, graceful modulations of key. Often these modulatory sequences, achieved through a pivot chord or through inflection of a melodic phrase, arrive at harmonically remote keys. Indeed, Franck's students report that his most frequent admonition was to always "modulate, modulate." [citation needed] Franck's modulatory style and his idiomatic method of inflecting melodic phrases are among his most recognizable traits. The key to his music may be found in his personality. His friends record that he was a man of utmost humility, simplicity, reverence and industry. Much of Franck's music is deeply serious and reverential in mood, often joyful, passionate or mysterious, but almost never light-hearted or humorous.

Legacy

Unusual for a composer of such importance and reputation, Franck's fame rests largely on a small number of compositions written in his later years, particularly his Symphony in D minor (1886-88), the Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra (1885), the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for piano solo (1884), the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major (1886), and the Piano Quintet in F minor (1879). The Symphony was especially admired and influential among the younger generation of French composers and was highly responsible for reinvigorating the French symphonic tradition after years of decline. One of his best known shorter works is the motet setting Panis Angelicus, which was originally written for tenor solo with organ and string accompaniment, but is also arranged for other voices and instrumental combinations.

César Franck exerted a significant influence on music. He helped to renew and reinvigorate chamber music and developed the use of cyclic form. Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel remembered and employed the cyclic form, although their concepts of music were no longer the same as Franck's. Franck's influence was also due in part to his nature as "a man of utmost humility, simplicity, reverence and industry."

Work

Further information: List of compositions by César Franck
Further information: Symphony in D minor (Franck)

Notable recordings

Symphony in D minor

  • Riccardo Chailly: Concertgebouw Orchestra (London 4174872)
  • Charles Dutoit: Montréal Symphony Orchestra (Decca 4302782)
  • Pierre Monteux: Chicago Symphony Orchestra (RCA 09026619672)
  • Jesús López-Cobos: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Telarc CD80247)
  • Charles Münch: Boston Symphony Orchestra (RCA 82876658332)
  • Guido Cantelli: NBC Symphony Orchestra (RCA Victor LM-1852)
  • Charles O' Connell: Victor Symphony Orchestra (RCA Victor 36331-B [2nd Movement, abridged Version]
  • Jean Martinon: Orchestre National L\'ORTF (Teldec 4509-97393-2)

Le Chasseur Maudit

  • Daniel Barenboim: Paris Orchestra (DG 4372442)
  • Charles Münch: Boston Symphony Orchestra (RCA 82876658332)

Organ works

Sonata for violin and piano in A major

  • Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy. (London 4141282)
  • David Oistrakh/Sviatoslav Richter, (Melodia 1000743)

Piano Quintet in F minor

  • Clifford Curzon: Vienna Philharmonic Quartet (Decca 4211532)

Ballet

  • Otaka plays Psyche et Eros

Piano

  • Murray Perahia plays Franck and Liszt: Prelude, Choral et Fugue
  • Sodi Braide plays Franck: Prelude, Choral et Fugue; Prelude, Aria et Final; transcriptions of organ works Prelude, Fugue et Variation and Organ Chorals 2 and 3
  • Sviatoslav Richter plays Franck: Prelude, Chorale and Fugue (Monitor MC 2022)
  • Awadagain Pratt/Live From South Africa: "Prelude, Fugue and Variation, Op.18" (transcribed: Harold Bauer)

Media

Wikiquote has quotations related to César Franck.

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References

  • Boyden, Matthew (1994). Classical Music on CD-The Rough Guide. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 185828113X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Davis, Elizabeth, (ed.) (1997). A Basic Music Library- Essential Scores and Sound Recordings. Chicago: American Library Association. ISBN 0838934617. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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