Violin Sonata (Franck)

[1] It is an amalgam of his rich native harmonic language with the Classical traditions he valued highly, held together in a cyclic framework.

This never appeared; it has been speculated that whatever work Franck had done on that piece was put aside, and eventually ended up in the sonata he wrote for Ysaÿe in 1886.

After a hurried rehearsal, Ysaÿe and Bordes' sister-in-law, the pianist Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène,[3] played the Sonata to the other wedding guests.

[4] The Sonata was given its first public concert performance on 16 December of that year,[2] at the Musée Moderne de Peinture in Brussels.

When the time arrived for the Sonata, dusk had fallen and the gallery was bathed in gloom, but the museum authorities permitted no artificial light whatsoever.

Its technical problems include frequent extreme extended figures—the composer himself having possessed huge hands—and virtuoso runs and leaps, particularly in the second movement, though some passages can be facilitated by employing a spare hand to cover some notes.

After thorough historical study based on reliable documents, Delsart's transcription for cello where the piano part remains the same as in the violin sonata was published by G. Henle Verlag as an Urtext edition.

Among them are: Violist Tabea Zimmermann released a recording of it arranged for viola and piano with pianist Kirill Gerstein.