César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (1822 –
1890) was a composer, pianist, organist, and music
teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life. He
was born at Liège, in what is now Belgium (though at
the time of his birth it was part of the United Kingdom
of the Netherlands). He gave his first concerts there
in 1834 and studied privately in Paris from 1835, where
his teachers included Anton Reicha. After a brief
return to Belgium, and a disastrous reception to an
early oratorio Ruth...(+)
César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (1822 –
1890) was a composer, pianist, organist, and music
teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life. He
was born at Liège, in what is now Belgium (though at
the time of his birth it was part of the United Kingdom
of the Netherlands). He gave his first concerts there
in 1834 and studied privately in Paris from 1835, where
his teachers included Anton Reicha. After a brief
return to Belgium, and a disastrous reception to an
early oratorio Ruth, he moved to Paris, where he
married and embarked on a career as teacher and
organist. He gained a reputation as a formidable
improviser, and travelled widely in France to
demonstrate new instruments built by Aristide
Cavaillé-Coll.
Franck was appointed organist and choirmaster of the
suburban Paris basilica of Sainte-Clotilde in 1858, as
construction was being completed. Neither was the
superb Cavaillé-Coll organ ready -- in fact, Franck
did not inaugurate the instrument until a public
concert of December 19, 1859. Yet there is no doubt
that it reawakened his interest in composition, which
had flagged after a youthful spate of undistinguished
virtuoso fantasies, songs, sacred pieces, an unproduced
opera and opéra comique, four remarkable Trios (1843)
that impressed Liszt, and a startling symphonic poem,
Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (1845-1847), which
anticipates the vast opening of Das Rheingold, but
remained unpublished and unheard. Their precise dating
is disputed, but the Six Pièces for organ seem to have
taken shape between 1858 and 1864, though they were
only published in 1868. Not without charm, the
Fantaisie, Pastorale, and Prière breathe the air of
religious sentiment. The Prélude, fugue et variation
looks ahead to the great piano triptychs -- the
Prélude, choral et fugue (1884) and the Prélude, aria
et final (1886-1887) -- while the groundbreaking Grande
pièce symphonique embodies the lessons of the master
in its grandeur and the sure shaping of its material.
Beethoven's example also informs the Final, which may
be described as an exuberant, substantial sortie,
though its robust, fanfare-like opening theme, given to
the pedals, soon complemented by a serene melody over a
running accompaniment, spaciously developed, suggests a
sonata first movement. Its bravura winding up, on the
other hand, is not innocent of an opéra comique
vulgarity effervescently similar to some manic moments
in the great (and misleadingly titled) Impromptu, Op.
69, of his friend Charles-Valentin Alkan, dedicatee of
the Grande Pièce symphonique. The Final was dedicated
to the once famous organist Louis James Alfred
Lefébure-Wély, and was heard for the first time with
Franck's premiere of the Six Pièces at Sainte-Clotilde
on November 17, 1864.
Source: AllMusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/final-for-organ-i
n-b-flat-major-op-21-fwv-33-mc0002359098 ).
Although originally created for Pipe Organ, I created
this Interpretation of the Final in Bb Major (FWV 33
Op. 21) for Winds (Flute, Oboe & Bassoon) & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION