He now began to prepare for the highest honor, the Prix de Rome.  But here parental authority interfered.  For some unexplained reason, his father compelled him to leave the Conservatoire before the year was up.  It may have been the father desired to see his son become a famous virtuoso pianist and follow the career of Thalberg and Liszt.  At any rate he insisted his boy should make the most of his talents as a performer and should also compose certain pieces suitable for public playing.  To this period of his life belong many of the compositions for piano solo, the showy caprices, fantaisies and transcriptions.  Being obliged to write this kind of music, the young composer sought for new forms in fingering and novel harmonic effects, even in his most insignificant productions.  Thus among the early piano works, the Eclogue, Op. 3, and the Ballade, Op. 9, are to be found innovations which should attract the pianist and musician of to-day.

His very first compositions, a set of three Trios, Op. 1, were composed while he was still at the Conservatoire, and his father wished them dedicated “To His Majesty, Leopold I, King of the Belgians.”  He wished to secure an audience with the King and have his son present the composition to his Majesty in person.  It may have been for this reason he withdrew the boy so suddenly from the Conservatoire.  However this may have been, the Franck family returned to Belgium for two years.  At the end of that time, they all returned to Paris, with almost no other resources than those earned by the two young sons, Josef and Cesar, by private teaching and concert engagements.

And now began for Cesar Franck that life of regular and tireless industry, which lasted nearly half a century.  This industry was expressed in lesson-giving and composing.

One of the first works written after his return to Paris, was a musical setting to the Biblical story of “Ruth.”  The work was given in the concert room of the Conservatoire, on January 4, 1846, when the youthful composer was twenty-three.  The majority of the critics found little to praise in the music, which, they said, was but a poor imitation of “Le Desert,” by David.  One critic, more kindly disposed than the others, said:  “M.  Cesar Franck is exceedingly naive, and this simplicity we must confess, has served him well in the composition of his sacred oratorio of ‘Ruth.’” A quarter of a century later, a second performance of “Ruth” was given, and the same critic wrote:  “It is a revelation!  This score, which recalls by its charm and melodic simplicity Mehul’s ‘Joseph,’ but with more tenderness and modern feeling, is certainly a masterpiece.”

But alas, hard times came upon the Franck family.  The rich pupils, who formed the young men’s chief clientele, all left Paris, alarmed by the forebodings of the revolution of 1848.  Just at this most inopportune moment, Cesar decided to marry.  He had been in love for some time with a young actress, the daughter of a well-known tragedienne, Madame Desmousseaux, and did not hesitate to marry in the face of bad times and the opposition of his parents, who strongly objected to his bringing a theatrical person into the family.