6 Sonatas for Violin Solo, Op. 27 – Eugène Ysaÿe

Eugène Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas for Violin Solo, Op. 27, have been performed thousands of times by violinists from around the world. Generally, they are performed individually, but on occasion, a player tackles all six together, either as a special concert event or recording project.

In the November-December 2023 issue of Strings magazine, David Templeton writes about the Ysaÿe Violin Sonatas at 100. He explores the history of performances and recordings of these works over the last hundred years, looks at the six musicians to whom Ysaÿe dedicated the pieces, and speaks to contemporary interpreters - including Hilary Hahn.

"The fact that Ysaÿe wrote these pieces at the time that he did speaks to his sense of legacy and his sense of rebellion," Hahn says. "He wanted to update the violin repertoire, to reflect techniques that he knew were possible that hadn’t been written into the repertoire yet. I would venture that Ysaÿe knew what he wanted to leave on paper in this world, and he did so with complete confidence."

If you would like to play these challenging pieces yourself, we are pleased to offer this Urtext edition, which Henle calls the "definitive musical text" thanks to newly discovered source material.

• Composer: Eugène Ysaÿe
  
• Editor: Norbert Gertsch
• Format: Paperbound, 68 pages