About this edition
César Franck's Symphony in D minor stands as one of the towering achievements of French orchestral music, all the more remarkable for arriving late in the composer's career and for the boldness of its construction. Completed in 1888, when Franck was in his mid-sixties, it is his only symphony, built in three movements rather than the customary four and unified by a strict cyclic method in which a small set of themes is transformed and carried across the entire work. Its unusually prominent use of the English horn in the slow movement, together with the rich, organ-inflected harmonic language of an organist-composer at the height of his powers, has made this symphony one of the most distinctive and enduring works in the French repertoire.
This edition reproduces the first published full score, issued in Paris by Hamelle around 1890 (plate J. 3059 H.), in the period surrounding the symphony's 1889 premiere and Franck's death that November. Hamelle was Franck's principal publisher during the final decade of his life, bringing his major orchestral, chamber, and organ works into print, and this full score represents the primary published source for the symphony — the edition through which the work first reached conductors and orchestras, and the foundation on which subsequent engravings and performing materials have been built.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
Because this score's copyright has long since expired, we're delighted to bring this historic Hamelle edition back into print, making Franck's masterwork readily accessible to conductors, orchestral musicians, students, and scholars alike. We hope you enjoy having this beautifully engraved piece of music history on your shelf and at your stand.