Symphony in D minor

The greatest French Symphony after the Symphonie fantastique was written by a Belgian - which is not quite as paradoxical as it looks since César Franck, who was born in Liège of largely German parentage, qualifies as a French composer by virtue of more than fifty years residence in Paris. As organist at Sainte-Clotilde from 1858 until his death more than thirty years later and as professor of organ at the Conservatoire, he was a central figure in Parisian musical life. As a composer, he influenced just about every French contemporary born in the last half of the nineteenth century, including those like Debussy and Ravel who didn’t much like his music. His oratorios might have left them cold but his late chamber and orchestral works - the Piano Quintet in F minor, the Violin Sonata in A major, the String Quartet in D major, the Symphony in D minor - were irresistibly powerful arguments in favour of the “cyclic” structural virtues he so vigorously promoted.

The Symphony in D minor, which was completed in 1888 and first performed at the Concerts du Conservatoire in Paris the following year, begins with an uneasy question. It is only three notes, introduced and repeated on lower strings in the opening bars, but it takes the rest of the symphony to answer it and, finally, to convert its anxiety into sublime certainty. Although the slow introduction includes several other anticipations of what is to follow, its main purpose is to convert that three-note question into the main theme of the Allegro non troppo. After a false start at a quicker tempo and a return to the Lento in a different key, the Allegro non troppo begins urgently and definitively with the three-note theme in gruff octaves on the strings. It is answered by a very much more lyrical second-subject melody on violins and then, by way of a crescendo, an exhilaratingly syncopated theme fortissimo on high trumpets with woodwind and strings. By the time this material has been thoroughly developed in the middle section of the movement and, after a brief but dramatic recall of the Lento, fully recapitulated, it is so firmly established that any later allusions to it should not go unrecognised.

Franck was justifiably proud of the Allegretto, which neatly combines the functions of the two central movements of the traditional symphony. It opens as a slow movement with harp and pizzicato strings outlining a theme that is to be heard in its definitive form later, after the entry of the cor anglais with what is one of Franck’s greatest melodic inspirations - “a marvellous idea, a heavenly idea, a really angelic idea,” as the composer described it to a friend. The middle of the construction is occupied by a scherzo, beginning in an apparently quicker tempo on tremolando strings and including its own trio section with an engagingly melodious episode for two clarinets. When the first part of the scherzo is repeated it is combined, most ingeniously, with a recalls of the slow-movement material, including the pizzicato theme and the cor anglais melody.

Although there are subtle thematic relationships between the first two movements, there is no obvious exchange of material between them. In the same way, the main theme of the Allegro non troppo last movement, a supple melody heard on bassoon and cellos in a happy D major after the opening chords, is only distantly related to the second-subject themes of the first movement. It is not immediately clear either where the brass chorale fits in. But as the movement goes on, in faithful accordance with Franck’s cyclic principles, the inner connections are not only illuminated but made the subject of celebration.

The first unmistakable reference to a previous movement is the reappearance of the main theme of the Allegretto on cor anglais with harp accompaniment. It is only after that theme has been thoroughly integrated with the finale material, by all kinds of juxtaposition and triumphant superimposition, that Franck recalls the themes of the first movement. In an episode of poetic calm the syncopated trumpet theme is quietly echoed by violins and then clarinet and, with a magical entry of harp in D major, first violins recall the work’s opening three-note theme - no longer as an anxious question but as an article of faith. A jubilant coda confirms the spiritual transformation.

Gerald Larner©

If the Symphony in D minor is not, from a strictly historical point of view, the most important product of Franck’s last ten years, it was for more than a century much the most frequently performed of all French works of its kind - after Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, that is. The situation has changed in recent years, however. The Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony in C major, the work which pioneered the post-Berlioz breakthrough and which was a vital source of inspiration for Franck, has enjoyed a considerable revival while the Symphony in D minor has gone through a corresponding decline. At least, that is the case in this country where, it seems, we can cope with only one late-19th-century French symphony at a time.

Although they are both constructed according to the “cyclic” principle - in accordance with which certain themes recur from movement to movement - the Saint-Saëns and Franck symphonies are very different. Franck, who was born in Belgium (he took French citizenship in 1871), has a Germanic element in his musical DNA which - together with his religious conviction, his allegiance to Wagner and his long career as a church organist - positions him somewhere between Saint-Saëns and Bruckner. While he admired Bruckner as an organist, however, it is unlikely that he knew him as a symphonist. Written at much the same time as Bruckner’s Eighth in C minor, Franck’s Symphony in D minor has its own very distinctive sound and, at only half the length, it is far less ambitious in scale. It is, on the other hand, no less ambitious in its spiritual aspirations.

The work opens philosophically in D minor with a quietly questioning three-note phrase on the lower strings. Although there are several other significant melodic ideas in the slow introduction, in the programme note he provided for the first performance of the work in Paris in February 1889 Franck himself draws attention only to that opening theme. As the tempo changes to Allegro non troppo the same phrase is presented as the first three notes of what is to become the emphatic and energetic main theme of the first movement. But before the Allegro non troppo can get going he repeats the Lento introduction in F minor, partly to imprint the the thematic material on the listener’s memory and partly to set up an opposition between those two keys.

So when the Allegro non troppo proper begins, with the emphatic theme we already know, it is in F minor. The other two main themes to which the composer draws attention in his programme note are both in F major, an intimately lyrical melody on first violins and, by way of a crescendo soon after that, an expression of faith swinging exultantly round a pivot note on high trumpets, woodwind and violins. All this material is thoroughly developed but is not recapitulated until after a portentously canonic treatment of the Lento material, which also reappears in the closing bars to end the movement in D major.

Franck was justifiably proud of the Allegretto, which neatly combines the functions of the two central movements of the traditional four-part symphony. It opens as a slow movement with harp and pizzicato strings outlining a theme that is to be heard in its definitive form later, after the introduction on cor anglais of what must be one of Franck’s greatest melodic inspirations - “a marvellous idea, a heavenly idea, a really angelic idea,” as the composer described it to a friend. The middle of the construction is occupied by a scherzo, beginning apparently in quicker tempo on tremolando strings and including its own trio section with an engagingly melodious episode for two clarinets. When the first part of the scherzo is repeated it is combined, most ingeniously, with a recall of the slow-movement material, including the pizzicato theme and the cor anglais melody.

The finale begins with an affirmation of D major and what Franck describes in his programme note as a “luminous” theme on cellos and bassoons. He draws attention too to a chorale in E major alternating between brass and strings and a “more sombre” idea on cellos and basses. But the most significant events of the movement are still to come - first a quiet recall of the cor anglais melody from the Allegretto and then, after some development of the finale material and a unanimously joyful recall of the “luminous” main theme, a fortissimo proclamation of the cor anglais melody by the whole orchestra in D minor. But the ultimate objective is not D minor but D major - to which end both the swinging theme and (on a magical harp entry) the three-note motif from the first movement are quietly called into service before a radiantly fervent coda triumphantly achieves its goal.

Gerald Larner ©2006

Just about all the music by which César Franck is known today was written in the last ten years of his life. While that amounts to no more than ten major scores, two of them - the Piano Quintet of 1880 and the String Quartet of 1889 - each made a significant breakthrough in the development of French chamber music. Two others - the Violin Sonata of 1886 and the Symphony in D minor of 1888 - were not without distinguished precedents but within a few years they achieved such prominence in concert programmes that they came to dominate their respective areas of the French repertoire. The Violin Sonata in A major is still far more often performed than Fauré’s earlier Violin Sonata in the same key. With the Symphony in D minor the present situation is rather different in that the Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony, which was an important source of inspiration for Franck, has enjoyed a considerable revival in recent years while the Symphony in D minor has declined in popularity - at least in this country where, it seems, we can cope with only one late-19th-century French symphony at once.

Although they are both constructed according to the “cyclic” principle - in accordance with which certain themes recur from movement to movement - the Saint-Saëns and Franck symphonies are very different. Franck, who was born in Belgium (he took French citizenship in 1871), has a Germanic element in his musical DNA which - together with his religious conviction, his allegiance to Wagner and his long career as a church organist - aligns him as much with Bruckner as with his great French contemporary. While he admired Bruckner as an organist, however, it is unlikely that he knew his symphonies. Written at much the same time as Bruckner’s Eighth, Franck’s Symphony in D minor has its own distinctive sound and, at only half the length, it is far less ambitious in scale. It is, on the other hand, no less ambitious in its spiritual aspirations.

The work opens philosophically in D minor with a questioning three-note phrase on the lower strings. Although there are several other significant melodic ideas in the slow introduction, in the programme note he provided for the first performance of the work in Paris in February 1889 Franck himself draws attention only to that opening theme. As the tempo changes to Allegro non troppo the same phrase is presented as the first three notes of what is to become the emphatic and energetic main theme of the first movement. But before the Allegro non troppo can get going he repeats the Lento introduction in F minor, partly to imprint the the thematic material on the listener’s memory and partly to set up an opposition between those two keys.

So when the Allegro non troppo proper begins, with the emphatic theme we already know, it is in F minor. The other two main themes to which the composer draws attention in his programme note are both in F major, an intimately lyrical melody on first violins and, soon after that, a loud and resolute affirmation swinging up and down round a pivot note on violins, woodwind and characteristically prominent trumpets. All this material is thoroughly developed but is not recapitulated until after a climactic (canonic) recall of the Lento material, which also reappears in the closing bars to end the movement in D major.

Franck was justifiably proud of the Allegretto, which neatly combines the functions of the two central movements of the traditional symphony. It opens as a slow movement with harp and pizzicato strings outlining a theme that is to be heard in its definitive form later, after the entry of the cor anglais with what is one of Franck’s greatest melodic inspirations - “a marvellous idea, a heavenly idea, a really angelic idea,” as the composer described it to a friend. The middle of the constructionn is occupied by a scherzo, beginning on tremolando strings and including its own trio section with an engagingly melodious episode for two clarinets. When the first part of the scherzo is repeated it is combined, most ingeniously, with a recalls of the slow-movement material, including the pizzicato theme and the cor anglais melody.

The finale begins with an affirmation of D major and what Franck describes in his programme note as a “luminous” theme on cellos and bassoons. He draws attention too to a chorale in E major alternating between brass and strings and a “more sombre” idea on cellos and basses. But the great events of the movement are still to come - first a quiet recall of the cor anglais melody from the Allegretto and then, after some development of the main finale themes and a unanimously joyful recall of the “luminous” theme, a full-scale proclamation of the cor anglais melody by the whole orchestra in D minor. But the ultimate object is to secure a convincing D major, to which end both the swinging theme and the three-note motif from the first movement are quietly called into service before the radiant D major triumphantly achieves its goal.