César Franck
César Franck was born in Belgium but established his career as a composer, organist, and influential teacher in France, most prestigiously at the Paris Conservatoire and at the church of Sainte-Clotilde. His music was heavily influenced by Liszt and Wagner, as in his Symphony in D minor, one of his most famous compositions. Franck's organ pieces are among the most celebrated Romantic works for that instrument, though his symphonic poems, chamber music (particularly the Sonata for Violin in A), and sacred choral settings are also regularly performed.
Franck was born in Liège (in the French region, which in 1830 became part of a new state, Belgium), on December 10, 1822. He was a keyboard player of extraordinary ability who had a short stint as a touring piano virtuoso before moving to Paris and throwing himself into musical studies. In addition, he was an organist at several major churches during his career, and his skills on the organ accounted in great part for his compositional interest in that instrument; his organ compositions stand at the apex of the Romantic organ repertoire. For much of his life, Franck was organist at the Paris churches of Saint-Jean-Saint-François and then Sainte-Clotilde, and in 1872 he became a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. He led a group of young composers, among them d'Indy, Duparc, and Dukas, who found much to admire in his highly individual, post-Romantic style, with its rich, innovative harmonies, sometimes terse melodies, and skilled contrapuntal writing. This group, sometimes known as "la bande à Franck," steered French composition toward symphonic and chamber music, finally breaking the stranglehold of the more conservative opera over French music.
Individual and instantly recognizable though Franck's music was, it owes a debt to Liszt and Wagner, especially to the latter's Tristan und Isolde and several other late works. He tended to use rather quick modulations, an inheritance from Wagner, and shifting harmonies. There is a Germanic ponderousness in some of his compositions and a mixture of paradoxical elements so typical of the composer, such as moments of peace and serenity that barely conceal an undercurrent of disquiet. These elements were used to great advantage in the Symphony in D minor of 1888, where Franck also adapts the Lisztian-Wagnerian predilection toward cyclical structure and melodic motto to an abstract symphonic form. Another characteristic of Franck's music is extended homophonic writing, as exemplified in his choral symphonic poem Psyché.
Franck was a man of strong religious convictions throughout his life, which often motivated him to compose works based on biblical texts or on other church sources, yet his choral works were slightly less successful than his organ works. However, his religious, solo vocal piece Panis Angelicus (1872) is highly popular and frequently recorded. Franck's most lastingly successful and recognizable composition is his Violin Sonata in A (1886), which shares characteristics with the Symphony and has been transcribed for a multitude of other instruments. Franck died in Paris on November 8, 1890. By the turn of the century, he had become the leading figure associated with the "old school" in France, while Debussy came to represent the "progressive" forces.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
Discografia
20 álbum(ns) • Ordenado por Mais vendidos
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César Franck: 12 pièces pour grand orgue
Classical - Lançado por ALM Records em 7 de mar. de 2023
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César Frank - Great Works
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 14 de nov. de 2020
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César Franck: Essential Recordings
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 8 de dez. de 2022
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Franck and Strauss: Violin Sonatas
Chamber Music - Lançado por Onyx Classics em 4 de mai. de 2015
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Ulrik Spang-Hanssen - César Franck: Les Grand Œuvres Pour Orgue
Classical - Lançado por CDklassisk em 30 de abr. de 2013
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Franck & Lekeu: Sonates - Mathieu: Ballade, Fantaisie
Chamber Music - Lançado por Analekta em 10 de mar. de 2009
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
César Franck, Symphony In D Minor
Classical - Lançado por Classical.com Music em 1 de jan. de 1996
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The New Goll-Organ of Marktkirche Hannover
Ulfert Smidt, Johann Sebastian Bach, Louis-Claude Daquin, César Franck, Max Reger, Olivier Messiaen
Classical - Lançado por Rondeau Production em 12 de set. de 2011
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Classical Pieces
Classical - Lançado por Pipeline Music em 9 de jun. de 2006
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Die Sauer-Orgel der Thomaskirche zu Leipzig
Ullrich Böhme, Max Reger, Eugène Gigout, Franz Liszt, César Franck, Marcel Dupré
Classical - Lançado por Rondeau Production em 20 de mar. de 2009
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Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major (Digitally Remastered)
Oliver Colbentson, Erich Appel
Classical - Lançado por EMG Classical em 30 de jul. de 2013
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Romantic Violin Sonatas: Live Selection, Vol. 1 (Live)
Chamber Music - Lançado por Cantabel Productions em 15 de nov. de 2013
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Franck - Final - Priére
Classical - Lançado por ClassicalPirosDigital em 13 de jul. de 2015
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Sånger av ljus
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Naxos Sweden - Mariana em 1 de jan. de 1976
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Franck: Symphony in D Minor
Constantin Silvestri, The Philarmonia Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Lançado por OBX Records em 19 de jan. de 2015
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French Piano Music
Classical - Lançado por Soundset em 1 de fev. de 1995
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Sånger av ljus
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Mariana Music em 1 de jan. de 1976
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Franck: Symphony in D Minor
Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Lançado por Sunday Club Records em 8 de out. de 2013
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Franck: Pièce Héroïque
Classical - Lançado por Sunday Club Records em 1 de nov. de 2013
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Franck - Symphony in D Minor
Sir Adrian Boult, The London Orchestra Society
Classical - Lançado por Violet Hill Records em 21 de mai. de 2012
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