César Franck (César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck) Biography

Belgian-born French composer. The sons of a banker, he and his younger brother Joseph were both driven towards a musical career by their father, who arranged a concert tour for César when he was only 11. The family moved to Paris in 1836 with a view to César's entering the Conservatoire, which he did the following year. He studied both composition and the piano and achieved distinction as a writer of fugues. He was preparing for the Prix de Rome competition when, in 1842 , his father removed him from the Conservatoire, intending him for a career as a piano virtuoso, in obvious imitation of Liszt . It was at this time that he composed his First Piano Trio, much admired by various critics and later by d'Indy , who thought it important in having established the cyclic form for which Franck became celebrated. Two further trios followed, taking their place in the French chamber repertory in spite of being such youthful works. Franck, however, met with little success and for some years had a difficult time, earning his living by teaching and giving recitals; he married in 1848 during the Revolution.

That year he was appointed organist at Notre Dame de Lorette, where he remained until 1853 when a better post at St Jean-François-du-Marais became vacant; he finally moved to the larger Ste Clotilde in 1858 . Eventually this church would be furnished with an organ by the celebrated French builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, but its construction fell behind schedule and Franck had to make do with a harmonium until December 1859 . The dazzling Louis Lefébure-Wély , famous for his opera transcriptions and light music, was engaged to inaugurate the instrument alongside Franck, who played Bach. Franck later participated in the inauguration of other Cavaillé-Colls, including the celebrated instrument at St Sulpice. He was, however, more a Bach player and an improviser than a virtuoso, though compositions for the organ began to appear at this time. Franck's Mass for three voices and Six pièces pour grand orgue achieved success, the latter making a profound impression on Liszt , who visited Ste Clotilde in 1866 .

Growing fame led to Franck's appointment in 1872 as professor of organ at the Conservatoire. Subsequently he produced a steady stream of compositions until the end of his life. His appointment (obtained by Théodore Dubois who recommended him to the principal, Ambroise Thomas ) led to his works being more widely performed; his cantata Ruth, which had failed at its first airing ( 1846 ), received a warmer reception in 1872 , but circumstances conspired against a successful premiere of his major oratorio Rédemption and it was soon overshadowed by Gounod's piece of the same name. Franck's training in fugue and his natural predilection (as an organist) for Bach left their mark on most of his compositions; but the fact that he worked in genres that had achieved their latest development in Germany ensured that his idiom was in many ways up to date.

This tendency was reinforced by a lively group of pupils and his association with various musicians who were interested in Wagner's latest works (the music dramas were beginning to be known through performances in Munich in about 1870 ). Franck was more influenced by Liszt, however, than directly by Wagner. His symphonic poems Les Éolides ( 1876 ), Le Chasseur maudit ( 1882 ), and Les Djinns ( 1884 ) are among the earliest French attempts at the form, the last named being a work for piano and orchestra after the manner of Liszt's Malédiction. Franck did make a few attempts to reach the operatic stage—de rigueur for any French composer seeking real success. Fragments from the opera Hulda, on a subject from Nordic mythology, were given in his lifetime, but it was staged complete only posthumously.

Apart from the best of his organ works—the Prélude, fugue et variation, the Prière (both 1860 – 2 ), and the Trois pièces ( 1878 )—Franck's real genius is to be found in a handful of compositions in purely musical genres: a String Quartet ( 1889 ), Piano Quintet ( 1879 ), Violin Sonata ( 1886 ), and Symphony ( 1886 – 8 ). These all use the Lisztian concept of thematic transformation and are cyclic in structure. Franck often starts with a germinal motif from which the rest of the material develops. His themes frequently centre on a single note, with the intervals between statements growing longer, giving the effect of yearning and incompleteness. His idiom is extremely chromatic, with extraordinarily frequent and free modulations and a tendency to veer between major and minor which he perhaps took from Schubert. His best music is probably that in which the form dictates a controlled harmonic scheme, as in the canonic final movement of the Violin Sonata and in the Variations symphoniques ( 1885 ) for piano and orchestra. His orchestration owes something to the organ loft, his piano writing to the enormous hands which allowed him to create large organistic sonorities: both are extremely effective. The Prélude, choral et fugue ( 1884 ) and the Prélude, aria et finale ( 1886 – 7 ) have secured a place in the piano repertory, the former in particular commanding some legendary performances such as those of Blanche Selva and Alfred Cortot.

Known as Père Franck because of the simplicity of his nature (made explicit in his music), he was much loved by his pupils and colleagues; many of the former officially studied the organ with him but, through his insistence on fluent improvisation, were in fact composition students. His formal pupils included d'Indy , Vierne , and Lekeu , and both Bizet and Debussy attended his classes for a short time. Franck died as a result of a road accident, having been struck by a horse-bus.

Bibliography and More Information about César Franck (César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck)

• L. Vallas , César Franck, trans. H. Foss (London, 1951)
• L. Davies , César Franck and his Circle (London, 1970); Franck (London, 1973)
• J.-M. Fauquet , César Franck (Paris, 1999)

Denis Arnold / Richard Langham Smith