3 Pièces pour grand orgue

Historical context

Franck wrote his three Pièces for grand organ expressly for the inauguration of the colossal new organ at the Trocadéro during the Exhibition of 1878. According to Vincent d’Indy, the set includes the Cantabile in B major, whose suave and devotional theme he described as the typical prayer of a Christian artist; built over a wonderful canon, it was written to display the warm, expressive quality of the new clarinet stop on Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s instrument.

Drawn from Derepas, Gustave (1848-1910), César Franck : étude sur sa vie, son enseignement, son oeuvre (1897); Indy, Vincent d’, 1851-1931, Cesar Franck; a translation from the French of Vincent d’Indy (1922) — public domain, archive.org.