• Name: César Franck
• Birthday: 12/10/1822
• Birth Place: Liège, Belgium
• Died: 11/08/1890
• Place of Death: Paris, France
• Period: Post-Romantic
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
(363) Panis angelicus for tenor, organ, harp, cello & bass
(189) Sonata for violin & piano in A major, M. 8	1948
(181) Symphony in D minor, Op. 48	1940
(42) Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman), symphonic poem (also arr. for piano, 4 hands), M. 44	1990
(21) Prélude, aria, et final, for piano, M. 23	1962
(2) Aimer, song for voice & piano, M. 76	2005
Andantino quietoso, for violin & piano in E flat major, Op. 6, M. 5	1981
(14) Andantino, for organ in G minor, M. 25	2008
(2) Antiennes (Anthems) (3), for organ, M. 27	1999
(12) Ave Maria, for soprano, tenor, bass & organ, M. 62	1990
(143) Chorals (3), for organ, M. 38-40	2008
(9) Danse lente, for piano, M. 22	1993
Dextera Domini, offertory for St. Pâques' Day, for soprano, tenor, bass, orchestre (or organ & double bass)	2003
Domine non secundum, for offertory for 3 voices & organ, M. 66	2006
Duo concertant, for violin & piano in B flat major, Op. 14, M. 6	1981
(2) Duo for piano No.1 (on "God Save the King"), for piano, 4 hands, Op. 4, M. 12	1988
Duo for piano No.2, for piano, 4 hands (after Grétry's "Lucille"), Op. 17, M. 19	1999
(3) Duos (6), for soprano, alto & piano, M. 89	1996
Églogue, for piano, Op. 3, M. 11	1998
(2) Entrée, for harmonium	1999
Fantasy (First grand fantasy) on themes from "Gulistan", for piano, Op. 11, M. 16
Fantasy (on 2 Polish Airs), for piano, Op. 15, M. 18
Fantasy (Second Fantasy) on themes from "Gulistan", for piano, Op. 12, M. 17
(3) Fantasy (Second Fantasy), for piano, in D major
(2) Fantasy (Third Fantasy), for piano	2008
(33) Fantasy, for organ in C major, Op. 16, M. 28
(35) Final, for organ in B flat major, Op. 21, M. 33	2008
(2) Grand Caprice No.1, for piano, Op. 5, M. 13	1998
(43) Grande pièce symphonique, for organ in F sharp minor, Op. 17, M. 29
(2) L'ange et l'enfant, song for voice & piano, M. 75	2005
(2) L'émir de Bengador, song for voice & piano, M. 72	2005
(29) L'organiste Vol.1, for organ (or harmonium), M. 41	2007
(4) L'organiste Vol.2, for organ (or harmonium), M. 24
(21) La procession: Dieu s'avance à travers les champs!, for voice & orchestra (or piano), M. 88	1930
(7) Le mariage des roses, song for voice & piano, M. 80	1996
(3) Le sylphe, song for voice & piano, M. 73 W	2002
(2) Le vase brisé, for song voice & piano, M. 84	2005
(11) Les béatitudes, oratorio for soloists, chorus & orchestra, M. 53	1990
(2) Les cloches du soir, song for voice & piano, M. 87	2005
(10) Les Djinns, symphonic poem for piano & orchestra (also arr. for 2 pianos), M. 45	1953
(17) Les Éolides, symphonic poem for orchestra (also arr. for 2 pianos)	1994
(6) Les Plaintes d'une poupée, for piano, M. 20	1992
(3) Lied: Pour moi sa main cueillait des roses, song for voice & piano, M. 83	1991
(2) Mélancholie, for violin & piano, M. 10
(14) Messe solennelle, for 3 voices, chorus, organ, harp, cello & double bass, Op. 12, M. 61	2008
Messe solennelle, for bass & organ, M. 59	2006
Motets (3), for voices & organ, M. 56-58	2006
(2) Ninon, song for voice & piano, M. 71	2005
(12) Nocturne, song for voice & piano, M. 85	2008
O Salutaris, for 3 voices & organ, M. 55	2006

César Franck is an important composer from the latter half of the nineteenth century, particularly in the realms of symphonic, chamber, organ and piano music. His stage works were uniformly unsuccessful, though his choral compositions fared somewhat better. Born in Liège (in the French region which in 1830 became part of a new state, Belgium), on December 10, 1822, 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.

Franck 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. 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. For much of his life he was organist at the Paris churches of St.-Jean-St. François and then Ste.-Clothilde, and in 1872 he became a professor at the Paris Conservatoire.

Individual and instantly recognizable though his 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, another inheritance from Wagner, and shifting harmonies. There is a Germanic ponderousness in some of his compositions; consider, for example, the opening of the Symphony in D minor of 1888, probably Franck's most famous composition. In this work, one hears a mixture of paradoxical elements so typical of the composer: for example, moments of peace and serenity barely conceal an undercurrent of disquiet. In this symphony, Franck, 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 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. ~ All Music Guide, All Music Guide