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César Franck (1822-1890) was a Belgian-French composer and organist. He studied at the conservatories of Liege and Paris, taking prizes in piano, composition, and organ. In 1858 he became organist of Sainte-Clotilde, Paris, where he demonstrated great skill in the art of improvisation. From 1872 until his death, he was professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory, where he exercised a strong influence on an entire generation of composers. His music is highly distinctive, rooted in the polyphonic and chromatic techniques of Bach.
While Rodin was not a musician himself, he liked to listen to music and maintained friendship with several musicians. His favourite composer was Beethoven, whose work he would stay close to all his life.
When César Franck died in 1890, it was Rodin who was commissioned to sculpt a medallion to be placed on the musician's tomb. Following the completion of the medallion, plans were discussed for a statue of the composer to be placed in the basilica of Sainte-Clothilde, where Franck had long been the organist, but nothing became of them.
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