César Franck: Sonata in A major for violin and Piano
Although born in Belgium, César Franck is usually thought
of as belonging to the French school, probably because he took out French nationality in
1872 as a condition of being able to accept the post of organ professor at the Paris
Conservatoire. It is from this final period of his life that almost all the works that
were to make him famous come. Many distinguished musicians passed through his hands,
including Debussy, Duparc, Chausson, Bordes, Dukas and d'lndy.
The idea of writing a work for violin had come to Franck as
early as 1859; had anything come of it, it would have been intended for Cosima von Bülow
(later Cosima Wagner). Twenty-seven vears later, stirred by the playing of the young
Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, Franck's inspiration took flight and in August September
1886 he produced one of the finest works in the repertoire. The dedication to Ysaÿe was
not originally Franck's idea, but once suggested he readily agreed to it and it was
decided to present the manuscript to the violinist on his wedding day. As Franck himself
could not be present, the duty was performed by his pupil, Charles Bordes, Ysaÿe, deeply
moved, insisted on playing the work through there and then - it must have been an
extraordinary wedding. The first public performance was equally eventful. This was given
in the winter of 1886 by Ysaÿe and Charles Bordes' sister Madame Bordes-Pène, in one of
the rooms of the Musée Moderne de Peinture in Brussels. The recital began at three
o'clock in the afternoon and already the players could scarcely read their parts. Official
regulations concerning the safety of the paintings did not allow any (gas) light, and by
the end of the first movement it was so gloomy that the audience was about to be requested
to leave. Ysaÿe decided to continue, however, and the remaining movements were performed
from memory in gathering darkness, producing in the absence of visual distractions what
evidently was a quite unforgettable effect.
The Allegretto ben moderato in A major (with two clear-cut
subjects, both recapitulated) is an introductory haven of peace before the storm-tossed
Allegro in D minor. Though so turbulent, this second movement borrows the first movement's
opening motif to link its own first and second subjects, besides bringing a pre-echo of
the third movement in a new, quasi lento chordal motif for the piano at the start of the
development. The Recitativo-Fantasia also looks backwards (to the first movement's first
subject and the second movement's quasi lento) and forwards to the finale (in an appealing
dolcissimo espressivo and a passionate dramatico largamente). After a wandering start, it
settles in F sharp minor but even in minor territory Franck seems to clutch at gleams of
major light and hope. Victory comes in the concluding Allegretto poco mosso in A major, a
free sonata-rondo with its Iyrical main theme always introduced in canon by the two
instruments. The episodes hark back to first and third movement motifs before the main
rondo theme finally rings out exultantly like pealing bells.