A towering figure in French music of the later 19th century, César Franck created a distinctive fusion of German Romanticism and French Classicism, enriching the symphonic, chamber, instrumental, vocal and sacred repertoires. As a teacher and mentor he gained admiration for his modesty and generosity while exercising a powerful influence on younger disciples such as Vincent d’Indy, Henri Duparc and Ernest Chausson. The César Franck Edition gathers together all his masterworks – among them the Symphony in D minor, Violin Sonata, Prélude, Fugue et Variation and, of course, Panis Angelicus – in enthralling performances by musicians of the first rank. Running to 16 CDs, the collection includes a CD of transcriptions and arrangements, proving their fascination for a still greater diversity of interpreters than Franck might have imagined. The five CDs of historical recordings – dating back as far as 1907 – testify to the continuing growth of his reputation after his death in 1890, and to the vibrant performing tradition engendered by his genius.

10 December 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of César Franck (1822-1890). Born in Belgium, but subsequently a French citizen, he is a towering figure in French music of the later 19th century. Today, Franck is especially admired for his works for orchestra, organ and piano, and for his chamber music, while his hymn ‘Panis Angelicus’ is one of classical music’s ‘greatest hits’. As a teacher and mentor, he influenced a number of major French composers of the generation that followed him.

César Franck was born in the Belgian city of Liège in 1822.  His family moved to Paris in 1835.

Young César’s ambitious father was keen to exploit his son’s exceptional musical talent. The young man studied with great success at the Paris Conservatoire, but his father withdrew him from education in 1842 to tour as a virtuoso pianist. Franck’s talent was admired by Liszt, who is the dedicatee of one of his early works of chamber music.

In 1846, Franck distanced himself from his father and the volatile existence of a virtuoso. He opted for a stable life in Paris as a church musician, piano teacher and family man.

In 1851 he became organist at the important Church of Saint-Eustache, moving in 1857 to the newly consecrated Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde. Franck remained at Sainte-Clotilde for the rest of his life, establishing himself as a pre-eminent organist. He was especially celebrated for his improvisations on the church’s splendid organ, built by the celebrated Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.

Franck, admired as a modest and generous man, achieved his greatest distinction in the period after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. As one of the first members of the influential Société nationale de musique (founded in 1871) he came into contact with all the major French composers of the time; in 1886 he became the society’s president. Appointed Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872, he subsequently attracted a group of younger disciples, known as the ‘Franckistes’. These included Vincent d’Indy, Henri Duparc, Ernest Chausson, Augusta Holmès, Guy Ropartz and the Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu. His influence extended far beyond his immediate circle.

As a composer, Franck initially focused on religious works (masses, oratorios, motets). In 1868 he reached a turning point with his masterly Six pièces d’orgue and also began composing his oratorio Les Béatitudes, which took him 10 years to complete. In the 1870s and 1880s he produced a stream of major compositions, including choral works, symphonic poems, the Symphony in D minor, works for piano and orchestra, chamber music, organ works and operas. (Though opera was normally the ‘seal of success’ for a French composer in Franck’s era, the four operas he composed in the course of his career remained unperformed in his lifetime).

Integrating the influence of Beethoven, Liszt and Wagner, Franck’s music combines rigour, spirituality and sensuality in a distinctively French manner. Often expansively lyrical, it is sophisticated in its use of structure and chromatic harmony. Cyclical form, in which the same theme is carried through several movements of a work, is a signature technique.

Franck, still at the height of his powers, died in 1890 following a road accident. His reputation as a composer continued to grow after his death.

The Franck Edition’s 16 CDs include all of Franck’s most important music and a wealth of lesser-known works. A collection of landmark recordings that span over a century (1907-2021), it features numerous major performers of the present and the past.

Among the 16 CDs are five comprising historical recordings from the years between 1907 and 1954. The most recent recording in the box dates from 2021.

Franck was a prolific composer. Rather than striving for completeness, this box focuses on his most significant and celebrated works among them are: the Symphony in D minor, structured in just three movements and synthesising German Romanticism and French Classicism; symphonic poems (such as Le Chasseur maudit and Les Djinns); the rhetorical and radiant Violin Sonata;  the passionate, intense Piano Quintet; piano works such as the Prélude, Choral et Fugue, and the most important of his works for organ, the instrument most closely identified with him.

Selected for their outstanding quality, the recordings in the box do ample justice to a composer of considerable achievement and wide influence, especially in the evolution of French music.

The Edition includes no fewer than five different versions of the famous hymn ‘Panis Angelicus’ (from Franck’s Mass, op.12): three solo interpretations by star singers of different generations – Beniamino Gigli, Camille Maurane and Barbara Hendricks – an orchestral version by Leopold Stokowski, and an arrangement for children’s chorus and organ by John Rutter.

The much-loved Violin Sonata appears three times in the collection: in a performance by violinist Renaud Capuçon and pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, and in transcriptions for cello and piano (Edgar Moreau and David Kadouch) and flute and piano (Jean-Pierre Rampal and Pierre Barbizet).

Performances released on CD for the first time are:
- Les Plaintes d’une poupée and Danse lente in performances by pianist Pascal Devoyon from 1983
- Prélude, Aria et Finale in E major and Prélude, Choral et Fugue in B minor in performances by pianist Germaine Thyssens-Valentin from 1954.