27 - Franck’s appointment to Sainte-Clotilde and his Conservatory organ class

Summary

César Franck had requested Théodore Dubois on his return from Rome [to be choirmaster at Sainte-Clotilde in 1863]; he then gave up his choirmaster's baton to Dubois and became the organist of Sainte-Clotilde. It was thus at the request of Théodore Dubois that Franck was appointed organ professor at the Conservatory on the [retirement] of François Benoist. Franck had never specially studied the organ, and his real objective was to become a composition professor rather than the organ professor. He was a very good musician, but not a specialist, and he was not especially gifted with the true classicism of an organist. However, when he became organ professor at the Conservatory, père Ambroise Thomas, who was kindness personified, was a bit shocked to see that Franck was soliciting a little in various classes, trying to attract composition students to him.

Franck had aroused the animosity of some of his colleagues at the Conservatory by fishing for students in the classes of his colleagues. Poor Franck was the sole support of his family; he had a son, and he was trying to earn as much money as possible. He worked very hard, but without an organ, which did not prevent him from composing masterpieces. He had no organ at home, and he had never studied organ. Although d’Indy claims the opposite, it is absolutely false that he had ever been an organ student or had ever won any organ prize.

He was a very good man, very noble of heart. He played almost all of his organ compositions at Cavaillé-Coll's one evening after a dinner attended by Saint-Saëns. Among others, I remember the Pièce héroïque that he played with difficulty, as he had had no time to practice because he was giving a lot of lessons. He had a very long hand, hence the difficulty for others of performing his pieces. He was not so much making pure organ music as a musical thought expressed by means of the organ. It was this Pièce héroïque that he played one day for Liszt at Sainte-Clotilde.

Mass at Sainte-Clotilde was at nine o’clock on Sundays, and Mass at Saint-Sulpice was at ten-thirty. Franck was known throughout the neighborhood, from the Institute to Boulevard St. Michel, as the man who ran to save time. He crossed through Saint-Sulpice to shorten his route at the time of the services.