Piano Music - César Franck

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Franck César

📖 “[Of César Franck's symphonic works:] Cathedrals in sound."
Alfred Bruneau
In Speech (1904)

📖 "To the attraction which he exercised by his genius, his personality, and his moral greatness upon the little circle of friends who knew and respected him, must be added the authority of his scientific knowledge. In the face of the Wagnerian art, he unconsciously resuscitated the spirit of John Sebastian Bach, the infinitely rich and profound spirit of the past. In this way he found himself unintentionally the head of a school and the greatest educational force in contemporary French music."
Romain Rolland in Vincent d'Indy's César Franck

📖 "Franck forms the natural link between classicism and the polyphony to come. The direct line of descent in pure music had been broken by the descriptive romanticism of Liszt and Berlioz, and finally by Wagner, whose deviations were marvellous, butdangerous to the destinies of their art. The intervention of Franck which was at once traditional and innovating, set the wandering feet of a whole generation on the right track, with rare tact and without any reaction. This is what caused this mystic, this visionary of the golden age of music, to be not only the last masterof the nineteenth century, but also the one man who could assure the free evo- lution of the music of the future ; the evolution of music itself, which should be neither descriptive, theatrical, nor picturesque, but only psychological, moving the soul and revealingthe infinite by the very song of the lyre."
Camille Mauclair La religion de la musique, quoted in Vincent d'Indy's César Franck

📖 "No one else has thatfaculty of suave and sensuous mysticism, that unique charm, that serene plenitude of fervour, that purity of soaring melody, above all, that power ofjoy which springs from a religious effusion, that radiant white- ness resulting from a harmony at once ingenuous and ecstatic. There is no severity in this evangelical mysticism. Undoubtedly the Organ Chorales and pianoforte works are of powerful construction and have the magnificent rectitude which proceeds directly from Bach. But Bach is formidable ; he thunders, he has the robust faith of the Middle Ages, his rhythm is colossal ; even his gaiety is as alarming as the laughter of agiant. Franck is enamoured of gentleness and consolation, and his music rolls into the soul in long waves, as on the slack of a moonht tide. It is tenderness itself; divine tenderness borrowing the humble smile of humanity."
Camille Mauclair La religion de la musique, quoted in Vincent d'Indy's César Franck

Piano Teacher's Recordings

César Franck
Prélude, Chorale et Fugue
C. Bechstein Centrum Berlin
Natalia Loresch, piano

César Franck

1822 - 1890
César Franck was a French composer, teacher and organist of Belgian birth. He was one of the leading figures of French musical life during the second half of the 19th century.

📖 "J'ai osé beaucoup, mais la prochaine fois, vous verrez, j'oserai plus encore…"
"I dared much, but the next time, you will see, I will dare even more…"

César Franck talking about his D Minor Symphony after it had been received unfavorably at its 1889 premiere

Explore the music of César Franck on IMSLP

🔔 Reload the page a few times if you see orange widgets instead of books and music.

Piano Music by César Franck

Books about César Franck

Some Recordings of Piano and Other Works by César Franck

Samson François plays Franck Prelude, Chorale and Fugue

Jorge Bolet plays Franck Prélude Choral and Fugue

Murray Perahia plays Prélude, Choral et Fugue, FWV 21 - César Franck

Alfred Cortot plays Franck Prelude, Chorale and Fugue (1929)

List of Piano Works by César Franck

Variations brillantes sur l’air du Pré aux clercs, see under Orchestral

Variations brillantes sur la ronde favorite de Gustave III, see under Orchestral

Première grande sonate, 1836

Première grande fantaisie, before 1836

Deuxième fantaisie, before 1836

Deux mélodies, before 1837

Deuxième sonate, before 1838

Troisième grande fantaisie, before 1838

Polka, before 1848

Eglogue (Hirtengedicht), 1842

1er duo sur le God Save the King, pf 4 hands, 1842 (c1845)

1er grand caprice, 1843 (?c1845)

Souvenir d’Aix-la-Chapelle, 1843 (Hamburg and Leipzig, c1845)

Deux mélodies; à Félicité, c1847

4 mélodies de François Schubert, 1844 (1844); arrs. of Die junge Nonne, Die Forelle, Des Mädchens Klage, Das Zügenglöcklein

Ballade, 1844

1re grande fantaisie: sur des motifs de Gulistan de Dalayrac, 1844 (1844)

2e fantaisie: sur l’air et le virelay ‘Le pont du jour’ de Gulistan de Dalayrac, 1844 (1844)

Fantaisie, ?1844, lost

Fantaisie sur deux airs polonais, 1845 (c1845)

Trois petits riens: Duettino, Valse, Le songe, 1846

2e duo: sur le quatuor de Lucile de Grétry, pf 4 hands, 1845 (1846)

Les plaintes d’une poupée, 1865 (1904)

Prélude, choral et fugue, 1884 (1885); Société Nationale, 24 Jan 1885

Danse lente, 1885 (1888)

Prélude, aria et final, 1887 (1888); Société Nationale, 12 May 1888

Piano Transcriptions and Arrangements

4 mélodies de François Schubert, see under PIANO

Accompagnements d’orgue et arrangements pour les voix, des offices en chant grégorien restauré par le R.P. Lambillotte, 1858 (c1858)

Lénore, sym. poem by H. Duparc, arr. pf 4 hands, c1875 (1875)

Ernelinde, op by F.A. Danican-Philidor, vs (1883)

Tom Jones, op by F.A. Danican-Philidor, vs (c1883)

Le bûcheron, op by F.A. Danican-Philidor, vs (c1883)

Préludes et prières, org, 1889 (1889); arrs. of pf pieces by C.V. Alkan

Hymnes (Creator alme siderum, Sanctorum meritis, Iste confessor), harmonizations, 3vv, org (1914)

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