Eugène Ysaÿe
Sonata op. 28 for Violoncello solo
Ysaÿe’s Cello Sonata, unlike its companion piece for violin solo, has remained relatively unknown. All the same, it merits special attention as it was written at the same time as the Violin Sonatas and has the same superior qualities of musicianship. Our edition draws on a previously disregarded autograph manuscript from a private collection that provides interesting insights not found in the original print. To accompany the publication of Ysaÿe’s violin sonatas (HN 776) we are now offering the Cello Sonata in an urtext edition prepared by Christian Bellisario with detailed editorial comments. A brilliant addition to the repertoire for unaccompanied string instruments.
About the Composer
Eugène Ysaÿe
A Belgian violinist, conductor, and composer, whose virtuosic playing, rich in tone color, significantly influences generations of violinists. His late-Romantic compositions, of which only a few survive, comprise instrumental and chamber music works.
| 1858 | Born in Liège on July 16. He receives his first violin lessons from his father. |
| 1865–69 | At the Brussels Conservatory he studies violin with Désiré Heynberg. |
| from 1869 | Concert tours with his father take him through Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and France, where he performs as a prodigy. |
| 1872 | He continues his studies with Rodolphe Massatt. |
| from 1874 | In Brussels he is a pupil of Henri Vieuxtemps and Henryk Wieniawski. |
| 1876–79 | He follows Vieuxtemps to Paris, where among others he meets César Franck, Anton Rubinstein, and Raoul Pugno. |
| 1879–82 | He is concertmaster of the Bilse Orchestra in Berlin. He meets Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim. |
| 1882 | Together with Rubinstein he sets out on a concert tour through Russia and Scandinavia. |
| from 1883 | In Paris he rises to becomes a well-regarded interpreter and frequent dedicatee of all of France’s great composers, including Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Ernest Chausson, and Camille Saint-Saëns. |
| 1886–97 | He teaches at the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels and gives concerts regularly, including with Enrique Granados, Ferruccio Busoni, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. |
| 1912 | Appointed court music director and Grand Officier de l’Ordre de Léopold. |
| 1917–22 | He emigrates to the United States, leads the Cincinnati Orchestra, and teaches at the conservatory in that city. |
| 1922–30 | Back in Belgium, he undertakes a few more concert tours. |
| 1931 | Dies in Brussels on May 12. |
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Further editions of this title
Further editions of this title
