Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FRANCK, CESAR (1822-1890)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 4 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

FRANCK, CESAR (1822-1890) , See also:French musical composer, a Belgian by See also:birth, who came of See also:German stock, was See also:born at See also:Liege on the loth of See also:December 1822. Though one of the most remarkable of See also:modern composers, Cesar Franck laboured for many years in See also:comparative obscurity. After some preliminary studies at Liege he came to See also:Paris in 1837 and entered the See also:conservatoire. He at once obtained the first See also:prize for piano, trans-posing a See also:fugue at sight to the astonishment of the professors, for he was only fifteen. He won the prize for the See also:organ in 1841, after which he settled down in the French See also:capital as teacher of the piano. His earliest compositions date from this See also:period, and include four trios for piano and strings, besides several piano pieces. See also:Ruth, a biblical See also:cantata was produced with success at the Conservatoire in 1846. An See also:opera entitled Le See also:Valet de ferme was written about this See also:time, but has never been performed. For many years Franck led a retired See also:life, devoting himself to teaching and to his duties as organist, first at See also:Saint-See also:Jean-Saint-See also:Francois, then at Ste Clotilde, where he acquired a See also:great reputation as an improviser. He also wrote a See also:mass, heard in 1861, and a quantity of motets, organ pieces and other See also:works of a religious See also:character. Franck was appointed See also:professor of the organ at the Paris conservatoire, in See also:succession to Benoist, his old See also:master, in 1872, and the following See also:year he was naturalized a Frenchman. Until then he was esteemed as a See also:clever and conscientious musician, but he was now about to prove his See also:title to something more.

A revival of his See also:

early See also:oratorio, Ruth, had brought his name again before the public, and this was followed by the See also:production of Redemption, a See also:work for See also:solo, See also:chorus and See also:orchestra, given . under the direction of M. Colonne on the loth of See also:April 1873. The unconventionality of the See also:music rather disconcerted the See also:general public, but the work nevertheless made its See also:mark, and Franck became the central figure of an enthusiastic circle of pupils and adherents whose devotion atoned for the comparative indifference of the masses. His creative See also:power now manifested itself in a See also:series of works of varied kinds, and the name of Franck began gradually to emerge from its obscurity. The following is an enumeration of his subsequent compositions: Rebecca (1881), a biblical idyll for solo, chorus and orchestra; See also:Les Beatitudes, an oratorio composed between 187o and 1880, perhaps his greatest work; the symphonic poems, Les Eolides (1876), Le Chasseur maudit (1883), Les Djinns (1884), for piano and orchestra; See also:Psyche (1888), for orchestra and chorus; symphonic See also:variations for piano and orchestra (1885); See also:symphony in D (1889); quintet for piano and strings (1880); See also:sonata for piano and See also:violin (1886); See also:string quartet (1889); prelude, choral and fugue for piano (1884); prelude, See also:aria and See also:finale for piano (1889) ; various songs, notably " La Procession " and " Les Cloches du Soir." Franck also composed two four-See also:act operas, See also:Hulda and Ghiselle, both of which were produced at See also:Monte Carlo after his See also:death, which took See also:place in Paris on the 8th of See also:November 1890. The second of these was See also:left by the master in an unfinished See also:state, and the See also:instrumentation was completed by several of his pupils. Cesar Franck's See also:influence on younger French composers has been very great. Yet his music is German in character rather than French. A more sincere, modest, self-respecting composer probably never existed. In the centre of the brilliant French capital he was able to See also:lead a laborious existence consecrated to his threefold career of organist, teacher and composer. He never sought to gain the suffrages of the public by unworthy concessions, but kept straight on his path, ever mindful of an ideal to be reached and never swerving therefrom.

End of Article: FRANCK, CESAR (1822-1890)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FRANCK 		[next]
FRANCK, or FRANK [latinized FRANCUS], SEBASTIAN (c....

Site © 2006 - Net Industries