Franck: Great Organ Works, Vol. 1

Description

Cesar Franck(1822-1890)The Great Organ WorksVol. 1Long regarded asinconsistent, with many of his allegedly old-fashioned works left gatheringdust in libraries, Cesar Franck, along with contemporaries such as Alkan, atlast seems to be recovering from relative neglect. The centenary of his deatharoused little interest. Although Li?¿ge, his birthplace, redeemed itself byorganizing a major international symposium, beyond the very limited circle oforganists there was no particular enthusiasm. Nevertheless his work is becomingmore widely known, subject now of a variety of musicological studies.Questions must ariseabout Franck's personality and his very slow artistic development, his place inany particular national school and in the great aesthetic movements of histime, the exact nature of his religious inspiration, or the technical orexpressive difficulties encountered in the performance of his compositions.Late nineteenth-century observers, notably Widor, described him as anindulgent, middle-class fellow, with a little culture, no ambition and scantawareness of his genius. The view put forward by disciples such as Vincentd'Indy and Tournemire, however, presents him as an exemplary Christian,extremely devout, with idealised charity. The poem by Augusta Holm?¿s, writtenin reaction to the shock of his death, similarly portrays him as the epitome ofa loving father and virtuous artist. Franck was in thrall to this little red-?¡hairedIrishwoman, worshipped his young pupil Clotilde Breal, and wrote a passionate PianoQuintet, of which his wife disapproved. There is, therefore, speculationabout his character, .his habitual modesty and rather dull life, spent eitherin an organ-loft, lacking any great prestige, or with his Conservatoirestudents. There is at least enough known about him to appreciate the ambiguityof his character, in view of the seeming sensuality of works such as psyche orthe Violin Sonata. Critics diverge too in their views of the basis ofFranck's inspiration, to some German, to others essentially French. In fact hiswork shows traces of both, with neither dominant. His tendency towardsinstrumental writing undoubtedly reflects German taste. A brilliant pianist,his models were Beethoven and Liszt and, from the 1870s, he felt the attractionof Wagner, as did virtually all Paris, despite the political situation.Like his chamber,orchestral and piano music, Franck's organ music shows various Germaninfluences in twelve compositions written between about 1859 and 1890, groupedas Six Pi?¿ces (1862, published 1868), Trois Pi?¿ces (written forthe inauguration of the Trocadero organ in 1878) and Trois Chorals (completedin 1890). Even a summary analysis yields evidence of Bach's influence. Indeed,from the 1860s, following Bo?½ly's lead, French composers such as Benoist,Chauvet, Niedermeyer and later Loiret, admitted their debt. Though Franckhimself saw fugue more as a means of development, never an end in itself, fugaltechnique dominates many passages in the