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.

César Franck was a deeply spiritual man; his compositions such as Prière (Prayer) in C sharp minor reflect his true nature. Composed in 1860, during his 25-year characteristically religious period, this work was written for organ as a personal meditation on grief, hope, and faith. It stirs up the historical purpose of this devotional instrument. The work represents the divine thoughts of an organist questioning the unfathomable mystery of the hereafter, overwhelmed by anguish. This masterpiece of lyricism makes it easy to imagine sound pouring from pipes which are positioned between heaven and earth, played by a solitary organist, acting as a mediator between God and man. This was the role that Franck allowed himself to occupy when he composed Prière and other religious works.

Just one of the Six Pièces pour le Grand Orgue (1860-1862), Prière was dedicated to the remarkable François Benoist, who taught for years as a professor of organ at the Paris Conservatoire. In the composition, Franck uses his much-adored registration of Foundation stops on the Pédale, Grand Orgue, Positif, and Récit together with the Hautbois. With its subtle use of the swell-box, the work reached the pinnacle of expressive organ writing. The first theme is an indeterminately long melodic phrase that feels as though it is springing from itself. It is in strict five-part harmony, cast in the manner of a chorale tune. This subject creates the foundation of the entire work and reappears either in cells, which form different episodes in the development, or is blended into one of the second theme's singing phrases. The composition grows to ecstatic heights of expression when a Gregorian chant-like solo recitative for the Trompette of the Récit merges with a restatement of the opening to close the work on a somber note. Using the fugal and canonical devices that Franck loved so much, the composition is rich and lyrical, straightforward, but profound. The astonishing musical and spiritual revolution which this piece achieves distinguishes it from other works of this period.

Alive during a time when the secular music of Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann was celebrated, Franck had an interest in composition that was an antithesis of the majority of his fellow Frenchmen; he sought to return the organ to paths of spirituality and liturgical use. For the mastery of his instrument and the depth of his works, Franck has been considered the only true "equal" of Johann Sebastian Bach as a composer for the organ. His other religious compositions include Les béatitudes (1869-1879), Ave Maria (1863), Rédemption (1871-1872), and Les Sermon sur la Montagne (circa 1846). In short, Franck was a simple, warm-hearted man who was devoted to his work, to teaching, to composition, and to his instrument. He came closer to achieving his goal of restoring the taste for "pure music" in France, when he composed the spiritually touching Prière in 1860.

Source: AllMusic (https://www.allmusic.com/composition/pri%C3%A8re-for-o rgan-in-c-sharp-minor-op-20-fwv-32-mc0002658020 ).

Although originally created for Pipe Organ, I created this Interpretation of the Prière in C# Minor (FWV 32 Opus 20) for String Quintet (2 Violins, Biola, Cello & Bass).