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. Franck? A professor of Harmonium, I believe." Cesar Franck was then 67, an advanced age for a man offering his first symphony. He had already composed his Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra, his fiery Sonata for Piano and Violin; he was an esteemed teacher. But he was still almost unknown to the Parisian public.
Paris and the world...
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