Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 02/13/2007, uploaded on 01/20/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

At a time when much of the musical world was preoccupied with the music of Wagner, César Franck composed his Prélude, choral et fugue—a clear embracing of an archaic, and frankly dead, form written in the headwind of the musical trends of the latter part of the 19^th century. Franck himself was an organist of great skill, and though his harmonic language certainly shows the influence of Wagner, was an admirer of Bach, to whom the work’s title obviously alludes. Yet, the deeply moving and profound work was not ushered out of a random moment of inspiration but brought about by the marvelous performances of a young rising pianist. Marie Poitevin was taking the Parisian music scene by storm, winning first prize at the prestigious Paris Conservatoire, and stunning audiences and critics alike with her flawless technique and “all too rare artistic conscience.” And, not only did she champion the compositions of Franck and Chabrier, she effortlessly performed the works of Bach, which still were not yet a staple of the piano repertoire. Franck, inspired by these latter performances, was struck by the muse to compose his Prélude, choral et fuge which appeared in 1884, dedicated to and premiered by Poitevin, and published that same year by Enoch.

To the archaic prelude and fugue, Franck added his signature cyclical form by recalling aspects of the prelude within the fugue, and thus making the work a child of two different centuries. Originally, the piece existed without the intervening chorale, placing the agitated prelude directly alongside the melodramatic and grandiose fugue. While in this orientation the piece certainly could have work, it cannot be denied that Franck’s judgment was correct in determining the necessity of an intervening movement, separating the two highly dramatic movements already in place. Thus came into existence the elaborate chorale. Adding a sense of placidity and solemnity, it forms an effective transition from the closing measures of the prelude to the fugue’s ominous introduction reminiscent of Beethoven.  However, all darkened emotions are dispersed in the fugue’s joyous and triumphant conclusion.      Joseph DuBose

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Prélude, Choral et Fugue          César Franck

Intended by his ambitious Belgian father for a career as a piano virtuoso, César Franck later found his true vocation through organ appointments in Paris, chiefly that of Ste. Clotilde (from 1858), and through teaching.  As a composer, Franck's improvisatory skills and creative powers never ceased to intensify throughout his lifetime.  His Prélude, choral et fugue for piano, written in 1884, is one of the great masterpieces in the literature.  On full display are Franck's inspired emotionalism; richly colored chromaticism matched by equally rich counterpoint; complex, mosaic-like phrase structures which are often built from one or two motifs; and the tripartite, cyclically oriented large-scale structure which he favored.  The ethereal, searching prelude, the hauntingly mystical chorale, and the intricate fugue not only form the three major sections of this work, but they are also in three subsections, thus mirroring the larger tripartite structure.  The fugue brings the work to its climax in an organ-like, improvisatory explosion from which the main theme of the chorale quietly emerges embedded in the ethereal texture of the prelude.  As this builds, the final entrance of the fugue subject appears together with the chorale theme in cascading arpeggios derived from the prelude.  The work culminates in triumphant ecstasy, concluding with the chorale theme in the key of B Major.    Heidi Louise Williams

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.