Cesar Franck’s Violin Sonata was written in 1886 as a wedding present for the 31-year-old violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Franck presented the work to Ysaÿe on the morning of his wedding, and after a hurried rehearsal, Ysaÿe and a pianist wedding guest played the Sonata to the other guests. It was given its first public concert performance at the Museum of Modern Painting in Brussels. An attendee recalled: "The performance, which began at 3 PM, had been very long, and it was rapidly growing dark. After the first movement, the performers could scarcely read the music, but the official regulations forbade any light whatever in rooms which contained paintings. The public was asked to leave, but the audience refused to budge. And then the two artists, plunged in darkest gloom, performed the last three movements from memory, with a fire and passion astounding to the listeners in that there was an absence of all externals which could enhance the performance."
Ysaÿe kept the Violin Sonata in his repertoire for the next 40 years. His championing of the work contributed to the public recognition of Franck as a major composer. It regularly appears on concert programs and on recordings and is in the core repertoire of violinists. It is in four movements alternating between slow and fast. The first movement is filled with unceasing melodies, while the second movement is a fireball of passion and energy. The third movement is a fantasy-filled self-reflection. It has a hint of a dark and clenching mood as well as an ecstatic melodic line that effectively contrasts with the peace and sense of attainment in the fourth and last movement. The flowing melody is stated at the start of the movement by the piano, which the violin follows in a canon. The sonata concludes with energetic elegance. Rebecca Benjamin
Classical Music | Violin Music
César Franck
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, M. 8 Play
Recorded on 06/12/2013, uploaded on 01/20/2014
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Cesar Franck’s Violin Sonata was written in 1886 as a wedding present for the 31-year-old violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Franck presented the work to Ysaÿe on the morning of his wedding, and after a hurried rehearsal, Ysaÿe and a pianist wedding guest played the Sonata to the other guests. It was given its first public concert performance at the Museum of Modern Painting in Brussels. An attendee recalled: "The performance, which began at 3 PM, had been very long, and it was rapidly growing dark. After the first movement, the performers could scarcely read the music, but the official regulations forbade any light whatever in rooms which contained paintings. The public was asked to leave, but the audience refused to budge. And then the two artists, plunged in darkest gloom, performed the last three movements from memory, with a fire and passion astounding to the listeners in that there was an absence of all externals which could enhance the performance."
Ysaÿe kept the Violin Sonata in his repertoire for the next 40 years. His championing of the work contributed to the public recognition of Franck as a major composer. It regularly appears on concert programs and on recordings and is in the core repertoire of violinists. It is in four movements alternating between slow and fast. The first movement is filled with unceasing melodies, while the second movement is a fireball of passion and energy. The third movement is a fantasy-filled self-reflection. It has a hint of a dark and clenching mood as well as an ecstatic melodic line that effectively contrasts with the peace and sense of attainment in the fourth and last movement. The flowing melody is stated at the start of the movement by the piano, which the violin follows in a canon. The sonata concludes with energetic elegance. Rebecca Benjamin
More music by César Franck
Prelude, Figue and Variation for organ, Op. 18
Alegretto Moderato, from Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, M. 8
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, M. 8
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major (transcribed for cello)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, M. 8
Prélude, Choral et Fugue
Prelude, Fugue et Variation, op. 18
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue
Violin Sonata in A Major, Allegro
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, M. 8
Performances by same musician(s)
Mélodie, from Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42
Scherzo, from Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42
Scherzo-Tarantella
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