Franck, César

César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck – Le chasseur maudit, poème symphonique, FWV 44 / CFF 128

(b. Liège, Kingdom of the Netherlands [Belgium since 1830], December 10, 1822 – d. Paris, November 8, 1890)

The Accursed Hunter
symphonic poem, FWV 44 / CFF 128

Date of composition
Summer 1881 – 31 October 1882
Dedicated to
French conductor and violinist Charles Lamoureux (1834-1899)
Premiere
31 mars 1883, Salle Érard, Paris. Société nationale de musique
under the direction of Édouard Colonne.
Publication
Paris: Léon Grus, 1882, plate number, L. G. 3814. An arrangement was issued
for piano – 4 hands “par le composer,” under the title “La chasse fantastique.”
Orchestration
piccolo, pairs of flutes, oboes, and B-flat clarinets, 4 bassoons,
4 horns, 2 F trumpets, 2 B-flat cornets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani,
tubular bells, cymbals, triangle, bass drum, and strings
Scenario for the symphonic poem
inspired by a ballad by Gottfried August Bürger

The Composer
Franco-Belgian composer and organist César Franck (as he signed from September 1846), is best known for his Symphony in D minor (1888) and the beautiful communion anthem Panis angelicus (1872). A child prodigy, he composed his first works at the age of eleven (1834) and pursued a career as a virtuoso pianist under his father’s guidance. After studying music theory, harmony, counterpoint and piano (1831-1834), he came to Paris.

He gave his first concerts in 1834 while studying at the Liège Conservatoire, then won first prizes at the Paris Conservatoire (piano, 1838; counterpoint, 1840), and shifted his focus from piano to organ. Franck alternated between that city and Paris until marrying Félicité Saillot (1825-1918) in 1848. Mlle Saillot (1825-1918) was a young French actress whose parents were members of the Comédie-Française under the stage name of Desmousseaux. Franck broke with his parents and moved to Paris, embarking on a long, successful career as a teacher and performer; he played regularly at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (1847-1851) and Saint-Jean-Saint-François (1851-1858).

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