Unlike other late works by Franck, the Violin Sonata of 1886 found a friendly reception among critics and public from the outset. It is dedicated to Eugène Ysaÿe, who was attracting much attention at the time with his flawless violin technique. Ysaÿe was so inspired by the Sonata that he promised “I will play this masterpiece wherever I can find an artistically-minded pianist”. Nothing has changed to the present day regarding the work’s continuing popularity, but it was time to revise Henle’s previous edition to reflect the latest research. In the intervening period it has been shown that Franck was actively involved in reading the proofs for the printed edition, meaning that the first edition, which contains many differences from the autograph, has become the basis for our new one. The markings of the violin part of our edition are by Yehudi Menuhin; Daniel Hope has undertaken the changes required by the revised musical text.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
