Prélude, choral et fugue

Historical context

One of the three large piano works of Franck’s maturity, the Prélude, choral et fugue grew out of an earlier, abandoned attempt called “Les Djinns,” and was first performed by Mme Poitevin under the auspices of the Société Nationale on 24 January 1885. Vincent d’Indy recounts that Franck set out to write a prelude and fugue in the style of Bach, then decided to link them with a Chorale “whose melodic spirit would pervade the entire work.”

The Prelude takes the shape of a classical suite-prelude; the Chorale, in three parts, oscillates between E-flat minor and C minor; and the Fugue unfolds in successive expositions before the work draws its three chief elements together in a superb peroration built on the fugue subject. d’Indy noted in the tolling chorale a probably unconscious echo of the “bell theme” from Wagner’s Parsifal.

Drawn from Derepas, Gustave (1848-1910), César Franck : étude sur sa vie, son enseignement, son oeuvre (1897); Indy, Vincent d’, 1851-1931, Cesar Franck; a translation from the French of Vincent d’Indy (1922) — public domain, archive.org.