The Trois Chorals are amongst Franck’s best-known works. They are characterised by great religious solemnity and were intended more for the concert organ as far as their dimensions are concerned. Many organists consider them to be César Franck’s legacy. After being involved in a road accident in May 1890, Franck died at the beginning of November 1890. He had probably already begun work on the Trois Chorals before his accident, in 1889. Yet we know that their completion was delayed until autumn 1890. Franck was no longer able to oversee the printing process for the first edition, which only appeared in 1892. Our Urtext edition takes two previously unknown autographs of the 1st and 3rd chorales into account for the first time and is thus able to supply a reliable musical text beyond the first edition, based on a sound evaluation of the sources.
