Cesar Franck
C�sar Franck was born in
Liege, in Belgium. At the age of 14, his father took him to Paris to
study at the Paris Conservatoire. He was a better contrapuntist than his teachers
there, and he was a serious Germanic sort of chap, his character was quite
unlike the light-hearted frivolous nature of many composers in Paris at that
time. So he was not accepted well, he was even resented somewhat.
He
became a teacher, organist and composer, occasionally using cyclic form. Organ
was his medium par excellence. Much of his most famous orchestral music was
written after he attained the age of 50. His Symphony in D minor is one
example of these later works.