1878 recording of Franck's Prière — possibly played by Franck himself !?!

[acc]

There is talk here and here about a (then) revolutionary recording device that was presented at the 1878 World Fair in Paris. (Both links are in Dutch; I haven't found anything in English about this — sorry!)

In particular, it would seem that one recording carries the first section of César Franck's Prière played at the (then brand new) Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Trocadero palace — possibly played by the composer himself.

Assuming it's not an advance April Fools' prank, this would be a pretty amazing discovery!

[jhnbrbr]

That would be amazing if it was true. I've always thought it a shame that Franck (for whom I have the deepest affection and admiration ) lived just too soon to be recorded, unlike Elgar, who embraced the "new technology" of his day with great enthusiasm, allowing us to hear him conducting, improvising at the piano and speaking.

[acc]

The people at Orgelnieuws now have uploaded a (the?) fragment here. (Second exposition of the theme, bars 17-24; ca. 18 seconds.)

Interestingly, the tempo is about crotchet=72, i.e. somewhat slower than Franck's tempo indications that Jöel-Marie Fauquet has rediscovered for the Six Pièces (in which the Prière clocks at crotchet=92). Of course, one still needs to clarify whether (a) it is indeed Franck playing in this recording, and (b) how faithfully the original tempo has been replicated in this mp3-file.

[jhnbrbr]

I just checked Wikipedia for the phonograph - and it was invented in 1877 and patented in 1878, so the timing is spot-on, and I believe the Trocadero inauguration was part of a wider international exhibition - just the sort of place you would go to show off a new invention.

[acc]

Indeed, that's exactly what those World Fairs were about. Paris had five during the 19th century, in 1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, and 1900. Needless to say, the Cavaillé-Coll firm participated in all five (the last one under Mutin, after Aristide's death in 1899), and Edison in the last three.

[rovikered]

The people at Orgelnieuws now have uploaded a (the?) fragment here. (Second exposition of the theme, bars 17-24; ca. 18 seconds.)

Interestingly, the tempo is about crotchet=72, i.e. somewhat slower than Franck's tempo indications that Jöel-Marie Fauquet has rediscovered for the Six Pièces (in which the Prière clocks at crotchet=92). Of course, one still needs to clarify whether (a) it is indeed Franck playing in this recording, and (b) how faithfully the original tempo has been replicated in this mp3-file.

Have just listened to this fragment. At the time the recording was made it must have been an amazing achievement, but the sound (as it comes over now) is grotesque and scarcely recognisable as music at all ! How can it be identified as an extract of Franck's 'Priere' ? It seems to me only of historical interest mechanically and scientifically and not musically at all.
The extant recording of Brahms playing the piano is also not pleasant to hear and only of historical interest, but at least it IS recognisable !

[mathetes1963]

Amazing if true, especially if the composer is indeed playing his own work. I'd like to hear more of this -assuming more exists- and have it's authenticity verified.

[acc]

Have just listened to this fragment. At the time the recording was made it must have been an amazing achievement, but the sound (as it comes over now) is grotesque and scarcely recognisable as music at all ! How can it be identified as an extract of Franck's 'Priere' ? It seems to me only of historical interest mechanically and scientifically and not musically at all.
The extant recording of Brahms playing the piano is also not pleasant to hear and only of historical interest, but at least it IS recognisable !

There is a "parasite" medium-to-high-pitched sound lasting for about five seconds, but I do find the rest of the fragment quite recognizable (no less so than the Hungarian Dance fragment by Brahms, in my view).

And I think it does give interesting information from a musical point of view. On one hand, there is the tempo, as I said before. On the other hand, I also note a certain absence of rubato (especially noticeable in the two quavers in bar 21).

[Soubasse]

Based on my limited experience of hearing recordings of composers performing their own works, there does appear (curiously) to be a general tendency amongst some of them, to take their pieces at a slower rate than their own manuscripts would indicate. I have a recording of Messiaen playing La Nativite and was (still am) quite surprised at how notably slower most of the cycle was in comparison to most other performances (including those personally endorsed by Messiaen such as Gillian Wier or Almut Rossler). Not quite sure what it means though - you don't think they were nervous do you??!

[acc]

As far as I am aware, Messiaen never gave metronome markings, so it's hard to say whether it's Messiaen who plays "too slow" or other performers who play "too fast" (besides, there are other performers who do play as slowly as he does). My personal feeling is that when Messiaen says something like "extrêmement lent", it ought to be "as slow as possible without disrupting the musical discourse". Messiaen himself does that superbly, in my opinion. Note also his revised edition of Le Banquet Céleste, where he doubled all note lengths; I strongly suspect that this was in reaction to performers playing it too fast.

I don't know what to think of Messiaen's endorsement of performers — he has given so many of them that there is some sense of inflation (in the monetary sense) about them...

As for Franck, we do have metronome markings for the Six Pièces (not on the score's manuscript itself, but still on a document in Franck's handwriting). Of course, there may be many explanations for the present performance to be slower than these markings:

• it may not be Franck at all who's playing,
• metronome markings are only an general indication, to be adapted to every venue (although the Trocadéro would have a less generous acoustics than any church Franck could have played/heard his organ works until that point),
• the recording could have been an impromptu request by Edison, and Franck, not specifically prepared for this performance, could have preferred to play slower than usual to avoid wrong notes,
• etc.

Another point I note is about articulation: there is a clear break before the third beat in bar 22 (between D# and B), but otherwise the playing is as legato as one would expect from the "Lemmens school". This is interesting, since Franck's kinness to that performance school has not been as clear as, say, Widor's.

[acc]

Assuming it's not an advance April Fools' prank,

Update: as one can read here, it turns out that it was an advance April Fools' prank.

[mathetes1963]

Update: as one can read here, it turns out that it was an advance April Fools' prank.

Oh...FRAK! Knew it was too good to be true....

[rovikered]

Oh...FRAK! Knew it was too good to be true....

My feeling: too BAD to be true;just noise, not music ! !

[pcnd5584]

Have just listened to this fragment. At the time the recording was made it must have been an amazing achievement, but the sound (as it comes over now) is grotesque and scarcely recognisable as music at all ! How can it be identified as an extract of Franck's 'Priere' ? It seems to me only of historical interest mechanically and scientifically and not musically at all.
The extant recording of Brahms playing the piano is also not pleasant to hear and only of historical interest, but at least it IS recognisable !

I wonder why anyone bothered to do this. Arguably, there is no such thing as an 'early' All Fools' Day joke.

[acc]

Arguably, there is no such thing as an 'early' All Fools' Day joke.

Well, now there is.