d. Nothing was ever allowed to interfere with this
resolution, and to it we owe all his great works.

Franck made his first attempt at a dramatic work in 1851, with a
libretto entitled "The Farmer's Man." As he must keep constantly at
his teaching during the day, he devoted the greater part of the night
to composition. He worked so hard that the opera, begun in December
1851, was finished in two years, but he paid dearly for all this extra
labor. He fell ill--a state of nervous prostration--and was unable for
some time to compose at all.

It was indeed a time of shadows for the young musician, but the skies
brightened after a while. He had the great good fortune to secure the
post of organist and choir master in the fine new basilica of Sainte
Clothilde, which had lately been erected, and which had an organ
that was indeed a masterpiece. This wonderful instrument kept all its
fulness of tone and freshness of timbre after fifty years of use. "If
you only knew how I love this instrument," Father Franck used to say
to the cure of Sainte Clothilde; "it is so supple beneath my fingers
and so obedient to all my thoughts."

As Vincent d'Indy, one of Franck's most gifted and famous pupils,
writes:

"Here, in the dusk of this organ-loft, which I can never think of
without emotion, he spent the best part of his life. Here he came
every Sunday and feast day--and toward the end of his life, every
Friday morning too, fanning the fire of his genius by pouring out his
spirit in wonderful improvisations, which were often far more lofty in
thought than many skilfully elaborated compositions. And here, too,
he must have conceived the sublime melodies which afterward formed the
groundwork of his 'Beatitudes.'"

"Ah, we knew it well, we who were his pupils, the way up to that
thrice-blessed organ loft, a way as steep and difficult as that which
the Gospels tell us leads to Paradise. But when we at last reached the
little organ chamber, all was forgotten in the contemplation of that
rapt profile, the intellectual brow, from which seemed to flow without
effort a stream of inspired melody and subtle, exquisite harmonies."

Cesar Franck was truly the genius of improvisation. It is said no
other modern organist, not excepting the most renowned players, could
hold any comparison to him in this respect. Whether he played for the
service, for his pupils or for some chosen musical guest, Franck's
improvisations were always thoughtful and ful