Works Reviewed

April 18, 1919

Rédemption (symphonic interlude), César Franck

Les Béatitudes, no. 4, César Franck

Prélude, Choral et Fugue, César Franck, orchestrated by Gabriel Pierné Egmont, op. 84, “Overture,” Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto no. 4, G major, op. 58, Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony no. 5, C minor, op. 67, Ludwig van Beethoven

Good Friday, April 18. Franck's life, like Beethoven’s, was painful. But Franck was not aware of it, at least in part. He endured all disappointments without seeing them as such; he was neglected without suffering from it. He went through a period of doubt, of moral struggle, without seeing it—and yet, despite his naiveté, despite his mysticism, he left a body of work that bears the mark of that period. His faith, so pure, so profound, is constantly saddened by the inner turmoil that shakes the old ancestral pillars. A theme of hope, of certainty, is juxtaposed with a song of anguish, and it is from the depths of the shadows in which man struggles, conscious of his solitude, that Franck's ardent and confident prayer rises up. He walked simply in the path illuminated by the light of his soul, without complaining of his destiny, which he did not think of as cruel, though we ourselves find it so unjust; and here nevertheless it seems, through a strange phenomenon, as if each page is like a call from far beyond his own self, so that in spite of his angelic peace, his gentle and serene pity, his candid and unstinting charity, it translates all the worry, all the supplication of the men around him who, between the ruins of the old world and the unknown of tomorrow, suffer within their passionate, ardent, and unsatisfied souls.

As for Beethoven, he knew neither this anxiety nor this peace; he understood happiness by going to the very depths of pain; he measured his despair by everything that his desire had glimpsed; he was terribly alone, perhaps because he had loved too deeply, and he knows what joy is, just as he knows misfortune.