Fauré composed his violin sonata in 1875/76 and in so doing opened up a new tradition for this genre in French music. In a review, Saint-Saëns expressed his enthusiasm for this work by his friend and pupil: "In this sonata you can find everything to tempt a gourmet: new forms, excellent modulations, unusual tone colours, and the use of unexpected rhythms.

And a magic floats above everything, encompassing the whole work, causing the crowd of usual listeners to accept the unimagined audacity as...