Franck's only symphony was a late composition, first performed in Paris
in February 1889, a year before his death. It splendidly reveals the
great Belgian composer's musical individuality, and echoes powerfully
the glories of the late French Romantic style.
Today, a century after its first presentation, the Symphony in D Minor
is one of the most performed and recorded symphonic works in the
repertoire. This authoritative Dover edition makes it available in full
score in a sturdy, yet inexpensive format designed to bring you a
lifetime of pleasurable study.
Although he was deeply influenced by Bach's contrapuntal technique and
by Wagner's chromatic harmonies, Franck achieved a highly distinctive
musical identity in his work. His pupil Dukas commented: Franck's
language is strictly individual, of an accent and quality hitherto
unused, and recognizable among all other idioms.
He was influenced not only as a composer but as an organ virtuoso and a
teacher, numbering among his students and followers d'Indy, Chausson,
and a host of other important modern French composers. His greatest
works, among them the Symphony in D Minor, combine depth and
monumentality with a sweeping, almost mystical lyricism -- qualities
that underlay his importance as a leading figure of 19th-century French
musical life.