Ysaye - Sonata op.28 for cello solo. You can download the PDF sheet music Ysaye - Sonata op.28 for cello solo on this page. The Sonata for solo cello dates from 1925—two years after the violin sonatas — when Ysaye was aged 87. In contrast to the violin sonatas with their folkloric coloration, the Sonata for cello has an extremely modern quality about it, perhaps because it was composed to the background of the political instability in Europe during the years after the First World War. Ysaye was also suffering at this time from unsteadiness in his bow-holding hand and diabetes, whose side effects resulted in his right foot having to be amputated in 1929. Perhaps reflecting the composer's difficult mental condition at this time, there is little in the way of cloying lyricism anywhere in the work. To view the first page of Ysaye - Sonata op.28 for cello solo click the music sheet image.
Here is the Ysaye's onata op.28 video from Youtube:
The Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaye (1858-1931) studied with Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps, He established his reputation definitively during his mid-twenties as the result of a concert tour given with the pianist Anton Rubinstein. During his heyday in Paris he enjoyed the confidence of many composers as the most outstanding European violinist of bis era, and he was the dedicatee of such works as Franck's Violin Sonata and Chausson's Poème. The most distinctive feature of his style was his unique vibrato, whose origins lay in his unorthodox bowing technique.
During the latter stage of his career, Ysaye was active principally as a composer despite being an autodidact in this field. His extensive compositional output included an opera, orchestral works, and many works for stringed instruments. The most well-known of his works for strings are the six unaccompanied violin sonatas, which are still frequently performed today.
In the first movement. Lento e sempre sostenuto, the dark tone that symbolises the work as a whole is summoned up by the lugubrious held tones. The double steps appearing towards the end of the piccc that continue to rise up and up create a vivid impression. In contrast, the second movement, Poco allegretto e gratiuso, leatures a light-footed rhythm with pizzicati ringing out with exquisite timing between the tense sections. The third movement, Adagio, features melancholy music beginning with a chromatic progression in the low register. The fourth movement, Allegro -Tempo ferme, at last moves into a fast tempo, but the para-contrapuntal elements and the vacillating tonality convey an impression of instability as the work draws to its conclusion.
