DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

96 FRANCK FEANCK
that of Zimmerman for piano. In 1838 he gained
Sinaa-essitmthe former suhjects, and subsequently
tlie tirst prize in tlie latter. He obtained this
last by a feat rare in the annals of the institution
; having played Hummel's concerto in A
minor to pertection, he was set to read a passage
for the first time, when he transposed it to a
third lielow the original iiitch, without hesitation.
The jury made him hors cmicours and awarded
liim a iirst }nHxd'honneur. Having entered the
composition class of Berton in 18.38, he carried
off the second prize in the following year, and,
in 1840, the first prize for counterpoint and
fugue. In October 1840 he entered the organ
class of Benoist, and obtained the second prize
in 1841. The registers of the institution show
that he left it voluntarily in April 1842, his
father unfortunately exercising his parental
authority by forbidding him to enter for the
prix de Rome. As Franck junior had no taste
for the musical acrobatics of the typical young
prodigy, he threw himself ardently into the work
of composition and of teaching. At first he was
for two years in his native Belgium, but returned
to Paris, where he established himself with his
family in 1844. From that time he led a busy
and laborious life, his strong constitution, cour-
age, and tenacity of purpose enabling him to
give as many as ten lessons of an hour every day
in piano, accompaniment, and harmony, as well
as to lay the foundations of the gigantic amount
of composition he left behind him. Amidst all
this work, his life was regular and tranquil. In
1858 the post of organist at Ste. Clotilde was
offered him, and he filled it for thirty-two years,
until his death. It is easy to picture him seated
at his organ, giving to a circle of faithful admirers
a foretaste of some great work, perhaps one of
his motets, remarkable for the wealth and variety
of their polyphonic combinations. A portrait
painted from life by Mile. Jeanne Rongier' shows
him at the organ, leaning a little forward, with
his left hand on the keys, and his right on one
of the stops. It is a three-quarter face, with the
eyes half- closed, as though the master were
listening to mystic chants whispered in his ear
from above. His peculiar charm was not merely
the masterly authority of his teaching, but
goodness of heart, and a kindly manner that
never grew less during the long years of his
professional career.
Naturalised a Frenchman in 1870, Cesar
Franck took charge of the first organ class of
the Paris Conservatoire on Feb. 12, 1872, about
thirty years after his retirement from the famous
school. From that time his life was devoted
exclusively to teaching and composition. The
long hours of his professional work were never
allowed to interfere with the creative side of
his labours, and the extent of his compositions
is a sufficient proof of his incessant activity. If
1 Eeprodncerl in Daniel Gregory Mason'a From Grieg to Brahms,
New Yorlt, 190'2.
a musical idea occurred to him in the course of
teaching, he would rise quietly and write a few
lines, then resuming the interrupjted lesson. He
became the centre of a group of young composers
who were anxious to study orchestral composition
without passing through the Conservatoire,
where no attention was paid to the symphonic
style, care being only given to operatic com-
position.
Though the earlier masters were his esjiecial
favourites, yet he was a great admirer of the
symphonic composers, of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert, and Schumann. Equally keen
was his enthusiasm for the masterpieces of
dramatic art, whether those of Gluck, "Weber,
Wagner, and Berlioz, or of the old French
operatic writers, Gretry, Monsigny, and, above
all, ilehul, from Avhose ' Euphrosine et Coradin '
he was fond of singing the fine duet of jealousy.
His mind, accessible to all kinds of beauty, open
to every innovation, free from all jealousy, welcomed
with the utmost warmth the compo-sitions
of his contemporaries who, more fortunate than
himself, reached w^orldly success. Another characteristic
trait was a kind of indifference to the
plaudits of the multitude. The few came to
him, understood and admired him ; those performances
of his works which came up to his
ideal delighted him, and that sufficed. Apparently
he was not even conscious of the in-
difference for his work displayed by the public ;
he lived in a world of his own, too remote for
such things to touch him. Art for Art's sake
w^as his heaven.
Thanks to his robust health, C&ar Franck
passed through life untouched by physical
trouble. He lived to a green old age, and
when attacked by the pleurisy from which he
died, on Nov. 8, 1890, he was still in full
vigour. In the dusk of a rainy day a few
faithful fiiends followed his body to the tomb.
There was no ceremonious funeral, no official
discourse of eulogy, merely a few touching words
spoken by a friend and a disciple. Such a
funeral befitted the modesty of his whole life.
Cesar Franck, whose work reminds us not
a little of that of Sebastian Bach— due jiroportion
being kept between the two—was like
an artist of another age, traversing the ordinary
paths of life like a dreamer, unconscious
of what might be passing around him, and
living for his art alone, and for the few
disciples who were destined to be the apostles
of a new religion. In the present day it is
clear that the work of this single-minded follower
of truth, this 'primitif born out of due
time, has borne worthy fiiiit, and is destined
to grow and spread still farther. His artist-
soul, though full of gentleness and goodness,
he
was never appealed to by worldly grandeur ;
lived apart from mortals in a super-terrestrial
world. Thus he could bear the disdain or in-