I don't know man Essay

Submitted By diannajeong
Words: 414
Pages: 2

Symphony in D Minor by Cesar Franck Cesar Franck, a Belgian by birth, was a prominent composer in France during the nineteenth century. He was mostly known for his sacrosanct and organ works. Franck fashioned his music in a classically oriented manner and was also engrossed with cyclic composition. When Symphony in D Minor was first premiered, the majority of the audience and contemporaries detested it despite the composer’s claim that it was a classical symphony. This piece was ironic in a sense that it was both traditional and unorthodox. Unlike most classical era music, it was teeming with orchestration and used the English horn, a rarely used instrument in a symphony at the time. The symphony itself was casted in three movements which was odd for the France’s late nineteenth century. The first movement is an expansion of the sonata-allegro form, with a harmonically lithe subject, the theme that is spun throughout the piece. It has two different tempos, Lento and Allegro ma non troppo. It begins with a phrase that has intrigued many composers such as Beethoven, Wagner, and Liszt. This expression forms a questioning effect, the question of “why”. The theme style changes vigorously and forcefully, and repeated in a different key. Then, Franck brings in a brighter tone, which stands out in this dark and ominous movement. The recapitulation brings back the original theme back; however, the movement is ended with a jovial ending, as if to answer the question with an illumination of confirmation. The second movement is more of a dance, combining a slow movement and restless Scherzo. In this sense, Franck included all elements of the four movement