The Biblical Scene Rébecca in the Context of César Franck’s Artistic Biography

Abstract

The article examines a large work composed by César Franck in 1881 and practically unexplored in Russian musicology — Rébecca (1881, world premiere in 1883), subtitled by the composer as “a biblical scene for soloists, chorus and orchestra”. The publication conveys a particular polemical pathos, because references to Rébecca in musicological literature in Russia and in other countries, until recently, had always been accompanied by factual inaccuracies. According to Vincent d’Indy’s periodization, the large-scale compositions of his teacher pertaining to the genre of cantata and oratorio (Ruth, Rédemption, and Les Béatitudes) mark the beginning of a new stage in the composer’s artistic biography. The early 1880s — the time of the creation of Rébecca — undoubtedly presents a turning point in Franck’s life: during the last decade of his life he would create masterpieces in almost all the genres to which he will turn to (these include symphonic poems, large chamber ensembles, piano, organ cycles, finally the Symphony in D minor). The creation of Rébecca was accompanied by biographical circumstances, interpreted by some researchers as a “passionate episode” in Franck’s life. This problem is illuminated in the article with the support of evidence provided by French-speaking musicologists. Posing the question of why the biblical plot about Rebecca has attracted the composer at that time, the author touches upon the composer’s personal and worldview aspects. The characterization of the cultural situation of the era in which Franck lived and composed his music provides evidence that the aforementioned factors determined not only the choice of the plot, but also the peculiarities of the genre, composition and intonation drama of the analyzed composition.

Keywords: César Franck, Rébecca, biblical scene, cantata-oratorical genre, French choral music of the second half of the 19th century