II
But Alkan’s music must be taken as the manifestation of an independent spirit, French in its directness, rather than as a source of stimulation or strength to a further development of a distinctly French school of pianoforte music. Such a school first centres about César Franck, who, though he, too, lived in retirement and in an obscurity which the general public did not attempt to penetrate, exercised a powerful influence on music in Paris. His compositions are relatively few in number. There are but two considerable works for pianoforte alone, and only three more for pianoforte and orchestra. These, however, are of great beauty and two at least are masterpieces in music. These are the ‘Prelude, Chorale and Fugue’ for pianoforte alone, and the Variations Symphoniques for pianoforte and orchestra. The other three, which have elements of greatness but seem to fall short of absolute perfection, are the ‘Prelude, Aria, and Finale’ for pianoforte alone, and two symphonic poems for pianoforte and orchestra suggested by poems of Victor Hugo, Les Eloïdes and Les Djinns.
The ‘Prelude, Chorale and Fugue,’ and the ‘Symphonic Variations’ may be ranked with the symphony, the violin sonata, the string quartet and the pianoforte quintet, and are no less a perfect and in some respects a complete expression of his genius than they. One finds in them the same ceaseless chromatic shiftings and involutions of harmony, the same polyphonic treatment of short phrases, the same structural unity, the same exalted and mystical spirit. In fact this spiritual quality is perhaps nowhere so gloriously expressed as in the Chorale movement for the pianoforte.
As a whole the ‘Prelude, Chorale and Fugue’ is flawless in structure. There is the greatest economy in the use of musical material. The unusual scoring of the opening measures, with the melody note slightly off the beat and the harp-like ornamentation, is the scoring which characterizes the final, tremendous pages of the Fugue. The sections of the Prelude which offer contrast to this opening melody are based upon the subject which later forms the basis of the Fugue. And the magnificent theme and spirit of the following movement, the Chorale, is projected, as it were, into the whole last section of the Fugue. Never, perhaps, was a fugue more splendidly and more fully developed, nor was the force of a work ever so made to grow and to culminate in pages of such majestic and triumphant music.
There is a similar use of material in the ‘Prelude, Aria, and Finale,’ but the result is not quite so flawless. The Prelude, here, in spite of the suave beauty of its chief theme, is loose and episodic in effect. And it cannot be said that the scoring for the pianoforte is distinguished or animated. The style is either massive or awkward. The most beautiful part of the whole work is perhaps the concluding section of the Aria. The earlier parts of the Aria are skillfully devised, but the scoring is rather heavy and seems more suited to the organ than to the piano. But the melody of this concluding section is of inspired beauty; and as if Franck himself were well aware of its rare and significant worth, the last pages of the stormy Finale bring it back, woven with the chief theme of the Prelude.
Technically both works are extremely difficult. The general breadth of effect, the demand for power and for freedom of the arm, and the use of octaves—these as well as the use of the very high and very low registers of the keyboard—all make evident the rather orchestral idea of the pianoforte which Liszt introduced. Liszt, by the way, was one of the first to recognize the greatness of Franck. But, though Franck was at one time a brilliant pianist and was intended by his father to electrify Europe from the concert stage, he was above all else an organist. His pianoforte style is most evidently very closely allied to the organ style. This is particularly noticeable in the treatment of bass parts, which not only suggest the pedals of the organ but are often impossible for the small hand to play. The octaves for the left hand in the Aria, and even more remarkably those in the Chorale, need not only the independent movement which the organ pedals can add in polyphony, but seem to call for the tone color of the low notes on the organ. Frequently, moreover, as in the second section of the Prelude in the ‘Prelude, Aria, and Finale,’ such wide stretches as the music demands of the hands, as well as the general freedom of polyphonic movement, almost require an instrument with two keyboards.
On the other hand, there are many effects which are brilliantly pianistic. The flowing figures in the Prelude of the ‘Prelude, Chorale and Fugue’ are purely pianistic. The tremendous octave passages in the Finale need the distinct, percussive sound of the pianoforte. And the upper notes of the Chorale melody, both when it is given alone and when it is combined with the fugue theme, must have a ringing, bell-like quality which only the pianoforte can produce.
The treatment of the pianoforte in those works in which it is supported by the orchestra shows less the influence of the organ style. Generally Franck had in mind the sonority of the organ and the movement of music proper to that instrument. In these works the function of the organ, so to speak, is given to the orchestra; and hence the pianoforte is free of all responsibility but that of adding its own special effects to the mass of sound. These are essentially simple. In the Djinns there is some brilliant rapid work, a few solo passages of agitated character with wide rolling but not elaborate accompaniment figures. In the ‘Symphonic Variations,’ very noticeably a bigger and a finer work, there are solo passages of great breadth, and nearly all the variations make the piano prominent by means of its own effects. There are the passages of detached chords and double notes which seem to tinkle over the first variation, the remarkably wide spacing in the passage which follows, with the suggested movement of inner voices and the occasional touch upon high notes; the flowing figures, with again a suggested richness of inner voices, which pursue their smooth course over the 'cello solo; finally the more brilliant effects towards the end, especially those of the tossing chords, and of the difficult, leaping triplet figures. The pianoforte and orchestra were never more ingeniously combined than in those passages which the pianoforte introduces with a sort of double waltz movement and in which the orchestra subsequently joins with the theme in a decidedly cross rhythm, leaving the solo instrument free to add delicately melodious runs.
The structure of the whole work, moreover, is musically interesting. Though the theme in F-sharp minor, announced simply by the pianoforte after several pages that are more or less introductory, may be regarded as the chief theme, there is another distinct and highly characterized theme—first given fully by the pianoforte in the magnificent solo passage (C-sharp minor) so prominent in these introductory pages. This, as well as the chief theme, is elaborately varied, and is ever and again throughout the work so cleverly combined with the chief theme, that one must regard the whole ultimately as a series of double variations.
These few works of César Franck are architecturally the most imposing for the pianoforte since the last sonatas of Beethoven; and the ‘Prelude, Chorale and Fugue’ and the ‘Symphonic Variations’ are surely to be numbered among the most valuable compositions from which the pianist may draw his delight. They are very nearly unique in plan and style. The ceaseless shifting of harmonies and interweaving of short phrases will doubtless seem to many manneristic and a little irritating. Then, too, they are, in spite of their breadth and power, mystical, and in that sense, elusive or even baffling. The weight of the organ style rests on them, and they are awkwardly difficult and taxing. Yet in spite of these peculiarities they remain pianoforte music of great dignity, beauty, and nobility.