César Franck

• Born: December 10, 1822, Liège, Belgium
• Died: November 08, 1890, Paris, France
• Genres: Classical
• Instrument: Multi Instruments, Programming

Biography

A noted French organist and composer of chamber, symphonic, keyboard, and sacred choral music, whose major works include "Six Pièces" (1862) and "Les Béatitudes" (1879). In the late 1800s, when France was still in shock from war and warring factions, Franck and his pupils (d'Indy, Chausson, and others, often called "la bande à Franck") steered French composition toward symphonic and chamber music and away from the more conservative opera. Franck incorporated organ-like textures, timbres, and immense sonorities of highly chromatic adoration and idealism into his symphonic compositions, with which his graceful chamber works stand in constrast ("Sonata for Violin & Piano in a," "Variations symphoniques for Piano & Orchestra" -- his masterpiece). ~ Blue Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide