1822-1842 Infant prodigi i estudis a Paris
Neix a Liège el 10 de desembre de 1822. El seu pare era un empleat de banca. Un cop es van manifestar les seves dots musicals, esperant convertir-lo en un nen prodigi, el va fer estudiar intensament piano, harmonia i composició. Després d’uns anys d’èxit com a jove virtuós, la família es traslladà a París, on Franck ingressà al Conservatori de París. Allà estudià amb mestres destacats com Anton Reicha i demostrà una gran habilitat com a pianista i compositor.
[no incloc oratoris i peces vocals que semblen tenir menys interès, ni tampoc les obres que no he trobat]
- Op. 08 – Variations brillantes sur la ronde favorite de Gustave III (par Auber) (piano and orchestra, 1835), CFF 133
- Op. 011 – Deuxième grand Concerto (piano and orchestra, 1836), CFF 135
- Op. 012 – Première grande Fantaisie (piano, 1836)
- Op. 014 – Deuxième grande Fantaisie (piano, 1836), CFF 4)
- Op. 015 – Deux mélodies (piano, c. 1837), CFF 5
- Op. 019 – Troisième grande Fantaisie (piano, c. 1837), CFF 7
1842-1858 Professor i organista
L’oratori Ruth fracassa, en part per una mala interpretació. Primers trios, són valorats per Liszt.
El 1846 trenca les relacions amb el seu pare, que tant li estava a sobre. S’havia enamorat d’una deixeble seva Eugénie-Félicité-Caroline Saillot, els pares de la qual eren membres de la Comédie Française. El seu pare li va trobar una peça que li havia dedicta i la va estripar. César va anar a casa els Desmousseaux va reescriure la peça de memòria, i li va dedicar. Acabarà deixant la casa dels pares i anant a viure a casa els Desmousseaux. El 1848 s’acabarà casant amb la seva promesa, havent de saltar les barricades revolucionàries per arribar a l’església de Notre dame de Lorette. Trobarà una feina d’organista que li garantirà uns ingressos i li permetrà expressar la seva fe catòlica.
La seva destresa en la improvisació serà molt valorada i viatjarà per França provant i demostrant les possibilitats dels orgues Cavaillé-Coll.
Simfònic
- 1845 Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne, sym. poem
Orgue
- Pièce, E, 1846 (1973)
Piano
- Eglogue (Hirtengedicht), 1842
- Ballade, 1844
- 1re grande fantaisie: sur des motifs de Gulistan de Dalayrac, 1844
- 2e fantaisie: sur l’air et le virelay ‘Le pont du jour’ de Gulistan de Dalayrac, 1844
- ?Grande Fantasie Op.19 (1845)
- Fantaisie sur deux airs polonais, 1845 (c1845)
- Trois petits riens: Duettino, Valse, Le songe, 1846
1859-1890 Titular a Ste.Clotilde
Cap al 1858, es va convertir en organista titular de l’església de Sainte-Clotilde a París, on desenvolupà una gran part de la seva carrera i reputació. Com a organista, és admirat per la seva improvisació i profunditat espiritual. Va escriure obres per a orgue d’una gran força expressiva i estructura simfònica.
També fou professor al Conservatori de París a partir de 1872, on influí tota una generació de músics francesos (com Vincent d’Indy, Ernest Chausson o Paul Dukas). Alhora, a vegades consultava els seus deixebles sobre com acabar de definir una peça. Saint-Saens s’hi enemistarà.
Orquestra
- 1875 Les Eolides, poema simfònic
- 1884 Le chasseur maudit, poema simfònic
- 1884 Les Djinns, poema simfònic per a orquestra i piano
- 1885 Variacions simfòniques per a orquestra i piano
- 1886 Simfonia en Re
- 1887 Psyché, poema simfònic per a orquestra i cor
Vocal
- 1871 Redemption
- 1869-1879 Les Béatitudes
Cambra
- 1879 Quintette F per piano, dos violins, viola, violoncel
- 1886 Sonata, A, per piano i violí, que tindrà força èxit.
- 1889 Quatuor, D, 2 vn, va, vc,
- Mélancolie, vn, pf publicat pòstumament
Orgue
- L’organiste, vol.ii, org/hmn, 1858–63 (1905); 30 pieces
- Cinq pièces, hmn, c1858 (?1865); 2 offs, 2 vcles, 1 communion
- Trois antiennes, org, 1859 (1859)
- Six pièces, org, 1856–64 (1868): Fantaisie, C Op16; Grande pièce symphonique, f Op.17; Prélude, fugue et variation, b, also transcr. 2 pf/pf, hmn, 1873 (?c1873)op.18; Pastorale Op.19, E; Prière Op.20, c; Final Op.21, B
Quasi marcia, hmn, c1862 (1868) - Trois pièces, org, 1878 (1883): Fantaisie, A; Cantabile, B; Pièce héroïque, b
- Trois chorals, E, b, a, org, 1890 (1892) Bonfils and G. Litaize, as Suite (M42), harmonium (1956)
- Pièces posthumes (1905)
Piano
- 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
The basis of Franck’s thematic material is the symphonic phrase, a paradoxical compound of rhetorical and passive elements which is paralleled linguistically by Jean-Aubry’s (1916) description ‘serene anxiety’. Often Franck developed complex phrase structures using a kind of mosaic of variants of one or two germinal motifs, a technique which again underlines his indebtedness to Liszt; two late piano works, the Prélude, choral et fugue and the Prélude, aria et final illustrate this procedure in its most developed and refined state.
An outstanding feature of Franck’s harmonic language is his use of the ‘chord pair’ (as in bars 1 and 2 of Les Eolides) where the second chord carries with it the impression of a sforzando. A classical formulation of this device appears in the ninth bar of the first movement of the Violin Sonata, but it also occurs in much earlier pieces, as in the first symphonic interlude from Rédemption (quoted above). It is often associated with Franck’s characteristic iambic rhythm in the attendant melody (see ex.5), as in the Violin Sonata. He often applied his method of thematic development to a harmonic context; a chord pair, for instance, may be repeated with a slight alteration to the second chord, resulting in a stronger implied sforzando (Violin Sonata, third movement, bars 17–18). The technique may also be applied to whole phrases, with more than one element being subjected to variation: again, the Six pièces furnish a prototype (Fantaisie, bars 9–12). Franck was particularly fond of incorporating these motifs into a bar-form (AAB) phrase structure; a good example is the second subject of the first movement of the Quintet. Much of the slow movement of this work is organized on the same principle; thus, bars 1–4 may be analysed as Stollen (bar 1), Stollen (bar 2; chord on third beat varied) and Abgesang (bars 3 and 4; cadential figure derived from the preceding two bars). Franck’s early explorations in the juxtaposition of chords had repercussions in the music of a later generation, notably that of Debussy, for whom the concept of contrasting harmonic colours was fundamental: his Les sons et les parfums (1910) begins with the varied repetition of a chord pair.
Franck’s formal procedures ranged from the simplistic dovetailing of ternary and sonata forms in the first movement of the Quartet to the complex synthesis of the Variations symphoniques. The architectural principle with which his name is linked, cyclic form, sprang originally from two distinct sources: Beethoven’s dramatic recall of previously heard themes, and the monothematic procedure whereby a number of movements employ variants or ‘transformations’ of the same material, as in Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy and E major Quartet op.125. Both these models have been suggested as the inspiration behind Franck’s remarkable Trio in F minor, but a more likely blueprint is to be found in the early piano sonatas of Mendelssohn and the Scherzo of his early Piano Quartet in B minor, which is distinctly echoed in the corresponding movement of Franck’s Trio.
[fluix en les obres vocals]
Franck’s finest compositional achievement is represented by the symphonic, chamber and keyboard works, one of the most distinguished contributions to the field by any French musician – especially the last three chamber works, in which Franck found a balance between his inherent emotionalism and his preoccupation with counterpoint and Classical forms.