Cesar Franck: Prelude, Chorale and Fugue

For my first post, I thought I would feature a work that isn't quite as well known as it should be, Cesar Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue.

Composed in 1885, the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue (PCF) was written five years before Franck's death in 1890, after a long respite from writing for the piano of about 14 years. I believe the impetus for writing the PCF was Franck's desire to move the composition of large scale piano works beyond the sonata form towards a new type of musical structure. Indeed, since Beethoven, there had not been any substantial innovations in large scale structures for piano works, save perhaps for the Liszt Sonata, which utilises cyclical thematic transformation.

Franck's originally intended to write a prelude and fugue in the style of Bach, but soon came up with the idea to bind the two parts with a chorale, thus creating a new form which was to have exceptional structural unity.

Since we are discussing structural aspects of the composition, let me first introduce the elements which Franck uses to build up the work.

The prelude has three motifs:
Motif 1: Flowing and simple.
Motif 2: Short descending motif
Motif 3: Ascending then descending.

As you listen to the entire prelude, you should be able to notice that Franck builds the entire movement on those 3 motifs.

The chorale is in three periods, with each period consisting of two distinct elements: a beautifully expressive phrase, followed by the majestic chorale theme proper. See if you can recognise the three periods while listening to the entire chorale.

After an interlude that modulates from E-flat minor to B minor, the fugue unfolds and develops with astonishing creativity.

Here is the fugue subject. Does it sound familiar? Maybe it is because it sounds a bit like this (motif 2 from the prelude)! What about the phrase in the chorale? Do you hear the resemblance between its last three notes and the first three notes of the fugue subject? This is the thematic unity that I was referring to previously, how the musical themes bind together the various portions of the work.

This is the inversion of the fugue subject. See if you can hear the inversion (see under inverted melodies) in the bass. Notice it is ascending while the theme is descending. Franck uses the inversion quite a bit in the development of the fugue. Try to listen out for the fugue subject and its inversion throughout the entire fugue.

After a big climax in the fugue, Franck produces his masterstroke, bringing back the key elements of the work one by one, juxtaposing them together. He starts with the prelude figuration, derived from motif 1, followed by the chorale theme on top of the prelude figuration, as can be heard here. Finally, Franck throws in the fugue subject, combining all three principle components of the composition. Listen here. You should be able to hear the the chorale theme in the high voice, in stretto (one voice entering with the subject before the last has finished its entry) with the bass, followed by the fugue subject in the middle voice, accompanied by the prelude figuration. It is quite complicated to make out but it truly is the defining moment of the work.

The work ends triumphantly in B major, with the chorale theme pealing joyously in a totally different character from when it was first introduced. It is an ending of reaffirmation, of victory, after a long, difficult musical journey.

Why the PCF is so deeply moving to me, is because Franck goes beyond Bach in terms of his sheer range of expression and harmonic daring, but his high romanticism is always tempered by this element of profound Bachian religious piety. There is this strong psychological sense of homecoming in works with cyclical forms, as the familiar motifs come in one after another after the long journey into the unknown in the fugue.

Listen to the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue in its entirety:
i) Prelude
ii) Chorale
iii) Fugue