MusiLLection

  Caricature of the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe , for whom this sonata was composed and presented as a wedding gift. This radiant work ranks among the most beautiful compositions of César Franck . Although written when the composer was already past sixty, it possesses the emotional vitality and expressive intensity more commonly associated with the music of a much younger man. Dreamlike and often deeply romantic in character, the sonata was presented as a wedding gift to the distinguished Belgian violinist Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe on 28 September 1886. A Stormy Dispute Franck worked on the sonata during the summer months, demonstrating his remarkable ability to shield his creative life from everyday turmoil. In the two or three years preceding its composition, intense disputes surrounded him, largely stemming from artistic disagreements with the established French composer Camille Saint-Saëns . Yet no trace of this unrest disturbs the serenity and balance of the ...

Like many composers of his time, César Franck earned his living primarily as a virtuoso performer, with broad recognition of his compositions coming largely after his death. Toward the end of his career, César Franck became increasingly aware that French music lacked a major, truly integrated work for piano and orchestra —one in which the solo instrument would not merely dominate, but participate symphonically in the musical argument. Determined to address this gap, he began experimenting with the relationship between piano and orchestra. An important step in this direction was his symphonic poem Les Djinns (1884), a work inspired by Victor Hugo’s poem. Two years later, in 1885 , Franck achieved his artistic goal with the composition of the Symphonic Variations , a work of remarkable unity, balance, and enduring expressive power. Franck originally conceived the piece as a concert-form structure in which piano and orchestra would share thematic responsibility equally. Influenced by Be...