César Franck’s Violin Sonata in A was composed in 1886, and was offered as a wedding present to the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. The sonata has become one of the most performed violin works in the repertoire, and it still receives regular performances.
After the wedding premiere the work received its public premiere on 16th December 1886 at the Museum of Modern Painting in Brussels. The premiere nearly didn’t go according to plan, however. The sonata was part of a very long program that started in the late afternoon. The sonata was last on the program, and dusk had fallen, so the hall was very dark. Ysaÿe was the performer, and he decided to go ahead with the performance regardless. Three out of the four movements were played completely by memory, as by that point the whole room was completely in darkness.
All four movements of this sonata are rich in harmonic language and are largely based around traditional classical structures. The movements are linked together through melodic kernels that Franck shares between the violin and piano. This makes the work cyclical, as the themes carry through from start to finish.
Listen now as violinist Janine Jansen performs the Sonata in A-Major by Cesar Franck:
