R.J. Stove’s intensively researched biography of Belgian French composer César Franck (1822-1890) has striking merits. Stove writes exquisitely, in periodic sentences, and manages to make detailed ...

Donald Macleod explores how Cesar Franck, who was, known for being retiring and unassuming, became a leading figure of French musical life. It seems as if Franck's diffident character positively ...

When the first performance of Cesar Franck’s Symphony in D Minor was given in Paris in 1889, critics were almost unanimously indignant. Sniffed one of them: “Why play this symphony here? Who is this M ...

Performances in N.Y.C. Advertisement Supported by César Franck’s only symphony was a pillar of the repertory for decades. But it’s now a rarity. By David Allen Whatever Leopold Stokowski’s thirst for ...

Ivan Hewett is The Telegraph’s Classical Music Critic and an author whose works include Music: Healing The Rift, a personal history of modern music. He has been involved in music as a composer, ...

Franck has a decent claim to being the most influential French composer of the 19th century – this is a reminder of the clarity of his orchestral vision Though he was born in Belgium, César Franck was ...

To mark the 200th anniversary of Franck's birth, Donald Macleod spends the week delving a bit deeper into this enigmatic and complex character and his music.

Has there ever existed a milder, more humble man who was also a great composer than César Franck? His ambitions were simple: to serve music and God with equal ­reverence. Name a famous Belgian! Well, ...