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Cesar Franck--Composer, Teacher, Organist: A Guide to Research
| Author: | Flynn, Timothy | |
| Year: | 2024 | |
| Pages: | 468 | |
| ISBN: | 1-4955-1239-8 978-1-4955-1239-1 | |
| Price: | $189.95 | |
"The materials examined in the present study represent an overview of the scholarship regarding the life and music of Cesar Franck (1822-1890) as well as selected sources associated with nineteenth century French music in general. Studies pertaining to other composers and musical genres connected with Franck have been included to offer the researcher more extensive information regarding the composer's life and times. This monograph is not meant to be an exhaustive collection of material, but rather it consists of a cross section of what has been written about the composer, his music, and the history surrounding him. The purpose of this resource tool is to facilitate further research and deeper inquiry into Franck as a composer, teacher, and organist in addition to his influence upon music history through his works." (Dr. Timothy Flynn, "Preface") [This is a revised version of the book published by Pendragon Press in 2019].
Reviews
THE AMERICAN ORGANIST
Review by ROLLIN SMITH
CÉSAR FRANCK—COMPOSER, TEACHER, ORGANIST: A GUIDE TO RESEARCH
Timothy S. Flynn. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2024. 468 pp. ISBN 9781495512391. Stand-alone bibliographies have gradually become common since 1993, when Christopher Kent published one on Edward Elgar for the Rout-ledge Music Bibliographies series. Here, early composers (Machaut, Victoria, Byrd, Palestrina, and Willaert) stand beside modern names (Messiaen, Bernstein, Barber, Copland, and Berg), but 19th-century Romantic composers—including almost every well-known instrumental and operatic composer—account for the majority of titles in the series. Timothy S. Flynn, a professor of music at the University of Olivet who holds a PhD in musicology from Northwestern, has contributed bibliographies on Saint-Saëns (2003) and Gounod (2009). In 2019 he published César Franck—Composer, Teacher, Organist: A Guide to Research with Pendragon Press. Pendragon ceased publishing a few years ago, and Edwin Mellen Press has now is-sued a revised edition of Flynn’s work.
Flynn has provided a boon to researchers and saved much space by including the newest monographs, articles, and dissertations, rather than the many earlier ones. “Some of the briefer biographical sketches of Franck which tend to repeat anecdotes and already well-known accounts of his life and music” are omitted because they are also found, and often more accurately documented, in the more comprehensive Franck studies. “Pride of place has been given to primary source materials when at all possible to obtain” (ii).
Flynn gives a generous and excellent overview of Franck the composer, teacher, and organist in the first 75 pages. After dis-cussing the “Current State of Franck Re-search,” the bibliography begins. First are “Selected General Studies”; these encompass many books written on French sub-jects often having to do with the organ. Among them are Archbold and Peterson’s French Organ Music from the Revolution to Franck and Widor, the Cavaillé-Colls’ biography of their father, Alfred Cortot’s French Piano Music, John Near’s Widor biography, Orpha Ochse’s Organists and Organ Playing in Nineteenth-Century France and Belgium, and Frederic Stiven’s In the Organ Lofts of Paris. This section is oriented around the state of instrumental music and those musicians with whom Franck was familiar and whom he influenced.
With “Biographical Sources: Primary and Secondary” we find original biographies of Franck that have appeared since his death, up to the present day. Each is discussed at length and actually reviewed, and the reader can usually decide if the source is worth investigating. Books and articles on specific compositions and gen-res follow; here one finds analyses of organ, piano, orchestral, and vocal works. Flynn wisely omits the many articles and essays on Franck that add nothing to his biography. (We might add the numerous times Widor told in the first person the story of Franck dancing the ballet of his opera Hulda. Vincent d’Indy first quotes Henri Duparc’s relating the anecdote in his 1906 biography [161], and Widor adapted it as his own.)
Appendixes include sources where particular manuscripts are to be found, including the call number; sources where the correspondence between Franck and well-known persons is to be found; a selected discography that includes early recordings of Franck’s works (missing are those of Tournemire, Courboin, Cécile Boutet de Monvel, and Blanche Selva); and a very interesting listing of contemporary reviews of Franck’s music, arranged by Parisian journal.
Not only is this an interesting book to read from cover to cover, but it is an indispensable resource for anyone who loves and plays the music of César Franck. It is the equal of the many recent works on the composer and displays an endless amount of patience and intellectual curiosity to explore all the resources available.
CÉSAR FRANCK—COMPOSER, TEACHER, ORGANIST: A GUIDE TO RESEARCH
Timothy S. Flynn. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2024. 468 pp. ISBN 9781495512391. Stand-alone bibliographies have gradually become common since 1993, when Christopher Kent published one on Edward Elgar for the Rout-ledge Music Bibliographies series. Here, early composers (Machaut, Victoria, Byrd, Palestrina, and Willaert) stand beside modern names (Messiaen, Bernstein, Barber, Copland, and Berg), but 19th-century Romantic composers—including almost every well-known instrumental and operatic composer—account for the majority of titles in the series. Timothy S. Flynn, a professor of music at the University of Olivet who holds a PhD in musicology from Northwestern, has contributed bibliographies on Saint-Saëns (2003) and Gounod (2009). In 2019 he published César Franck—Composer, Teacher, Organist: A Guide to Research with Pendragon Press. Pendragon ceased publishing a few years ago, and Edwin Mellen Press has now is-sued a revised edition of Flynn’s work.
Flynn has provided a boon to researchers and saved much space by including the newest monographs, articles, and dissertations, rather than the many earlier ones. “Some of the briefer biographical sketches of Franck which tend to repeat anecdotes and already well-known accounts of his life and music” are omitted because they are also found, and often more accurately documented, in the more comprehensive Franck studies. “Pride of place has been given to primary source materials when at all possible to obtain” (ii).
Flynn gives a generous and excellent overview of Franck the composer, teacher, and organist in the first 75 pages. After dis-cussing the “Current State of Franck Re-search,” the bibliography begins. First are “Selected General Studies”; these encompass many books written on French sub-jects often having to do with the organ. Among them are Archbold and Peterson’s French Organ Music from the Revolution to Franck and Widor, the Cavaillé-Colls’ biography of their father, Alfred Cortot’s French Piano Music, John Near’s Widor biography, Orpha Ochse’s Organists and Organ Playing in Nineteenth-Century France and Belgium, and Frederic Stiven’s In the Organ Lofts of Paris. This section is oriented around the state of instrumental music and those musicians with whom Franck was familiar and whom he influenced.
With “Biographical Sources: Primary and Secondary” we find original biographies of Franck that have appeared since his death, up to the present day. Each is discussed at length and actually reviewed, and the reader can usually decide if the source is worth investigating. Books and articles on specific compositions and gen-res follow; here one finds analyses of organ, piano, orchestral, and vocal works. Flynn wisely omits the many articles and essays on Franck that add nothing to his biography. (We might add the numerous times Widor told in the first person the story of Franck dancing the ballet of his opera Hulda. Vincent d’Indy first quotes Henri Duparc’s relating the anecdote in his 1906 biography [161], and Widor adapted it as his own.)
Appendixes include sources where particular manuscripts are to be found, including the call number; sources where the correspondence between Franck and well-known persons is to be found; a selected discography that includes early recordings of Franck’s works (missing are those of Tournemire, Courboin, Cécile Boutet de Monvel, and Blanche Selva); and a very interesting listing of contemporary reviews of Franck’s music, arranged by Parisian journal.
Not only is this an interesting book to read from cover to cover, but it is an indispensable resource for anyone who loves and plays the music of César Franck. It is the equal of the many recent works on the composer and displays an endless amount of patience and intellectual curiosity to explore all the resources available.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: Cesar Franck: Composer, Teacher, Organist
Franck as Composer
Frank as Teacher
Franck as Organist
Current State of Franck Research
Annotated Bibliography
Selected General Studies
Biographical Sources: Primary and Secondary
Specific Compositions and Genres
Specialized Studies
Appendix A: Selected Musical Manuscript Sources
Appendix B: Selected Correspondence
Appendix C: Selected Discography
Introduction: Cesar Franck: Composer, Teacher, Organist
Franck as Composer
Frank as Teacher
Franck as Organist
Current State of Franck Research
Annotated Bibliography
Selected General Studies
Biographical Sources: Primary and Secondary
Specific Compositions and Genres
Specialized Studies
Appendix A: Selected Musical Manuscript Sources
Appendix B: Selected Correspondence
Appendix C: Selected Discography