Improvising in the French Romantic Style at the organ

Abstract

“Improvising in the French romantic style at the organ” has two important areas of focus. The first is the contextualization of César Franck in nineteenth-century France as musician and organ performer. I have chosen to study César Franck due to the fact that I feel related to his music because of its great expressivity and the emotion it transmits to those who come closer and get involved in his works. The second focus of my thesis is Improvisation in the French Romantic Style. In this part of the work I have documented the development of my own improvisation in context of the history of improvisation, and I also show the great value this art had in France during the second half of the nineteenth century. In conclusion, I present my own improvisation in the form of a romantic symphony with the theme of The Passion of St. Luke.