What is César Franck?
[[Image:Cesar franck.jpg|thumb|right|César Franck]] '''César Franck''' (born [[Liège]], 10 December, 1822; died [[Paris]], November 8, 1890), was a [[composer]], [[pipe organ|organist]] and music teacher of [[Belgium|Belgian]] and [[Germany|German]] origin who lived in [[France]]. He was one of the great musicians of his time. He was organist at the church of Sainte Clotilde in Paris for more than 30 years, and he taught many talented young musicians. Most of the music for which he is famous was composed when he was already quite old. == Life== [[Image:Cesar-Frank-playing-organ.jpg|thumb|right|Franck playing organ]] César Franck was born in [[Liège]], a town which is now in [[Belgium]]. His father came from near the German-Belgian border and his mother was German. Because his father wanted him to be a concert [[piano|pianist]], he was sent to study at the [[conservatoire]] in Liege before going to the [[Paris Conservatoire]] in 1837. In 1842 his father made him come back to Liège so that he could practise for his career as a [[virtuoso]] pianist. He went back to Paris in 1844 and stayed there for the rest of his life. He told his father he did not want to be a concert pianist. This made his father very angry. During his first years in Paris, Franck made his living by teaching and playing the organ. In 1848 he married. His parents came to the [[wedding]] although they were still angry with him for not wanting to be a pianist. In 1858 he became organist at a new church called Saint Clotilde Basilica. He stayed there for the rest of his life. He decided to improve his organ playing, in particular in the use of [[pedal (music)|pedals]] and in [[improvisation]]. At that time changes were being made in France to the pipe organ. [[Aristide Cavaillé-Coll]] was a very famous organ builder. He built an organ for Saint Clotilde Basilica and Franck gave the first [[recital]] on the new instrument in December 1859. Franck became famous for the way he improvised on the organ after the [[service of worship|servic