César Franck was born in Liège, a town which is now in Belgium. His father came from near the German-Belgian border and his mother was German. Because his father wanted him to be a concert pianist, he was sent to study at the conservatoire in Liege before going to the Paris Conservatoire in 1837. In 1842 his father made him come back to Liège so that he could practise for his career as a virtuoso pianist. He went back to Paris in 1844 and stayed there for the rest of his life. He told his father he did not want to be a concert pianist. This made his father very angry.