The manuscript of César Franck’s Final op. 21

by Han Leentvaar | Het ORGEL | Year 94 | (1998) | Issue 8

 

Ton van Eck

The manuscript of César Franck’s Final op. 21


Het ORGEL 94 (1998), nr. 5, 24-26 [summary]

On 6 December 1992, the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris obtained the manuscript of the Final op. 21 by César Franck. As are the Fantaisie en ut and the Pièce heroïque, the Final turns out to be another example of a piece that Franck revised after the première: in the manuscript a coda of 30 bars is replaced by one of 85 bars. The new coda was not only longer, but also stylistically more convincing: the earlier coda was rather trivial, placing it on a level with the music of Lefébure-Wely, to whom Franck dedicated the Final. Franck signed the manuscript on 18 September 1864. In combination with the opus number 21, this demonstrates that the Final was not played at the inauguration of the organ at Ste.-Clotilde on 19 December 1859. The Final was, however, written for this organ: a compass of C-f3 is sufficient.