These works--those who have heard the Master play the beautiful Lazarri sonata this season will not soon forget it--are all dedicated to Ysaye. And this holds good, too, of the César Franck sonata. As Ysaye says: "Performances of these great sonatas call for _two_ artists--for their piano parts are sometimes very elaborate. César Franck sent me his sonata on September 26, 1886, my wedding day--it was his wedding present! I cannot complain as regards the number of works, really important works, inscribed to me. There are so many--by Chausson (his symphony), Ropartz, Dubois (his sonata--one of the best after Franck), d'Indy (the _Istar_ variations and other works), Gabriel Fauré (the Quintet), Debussy (the Quartet)! There are more than I can recall at the moment--violin sonatas, symphonic music, chamber-music, choral works, compositions of every kind!
"Debussy, as you know, wrote practically nothing originally for the violin and piano--with the exception, perhaps, of a work published by Durand during his last illness. Yet he came very near writing something for me. Fifteen years ago he told me he was composing a 'Nocturne' for me. I went off on a concert tour and was away a long time. When I returned to Paris I wrote to Debussy to find out what had become of my 'Nocturne.' And he replied that, somehow, it had shaped itself up for orchestra instead of a violin solo. It is one of the _Trois Nocturnes_ for orchestra. Perhaps one reason why so much has been inscribed to me is the fact that as an interpreting artist, I have never cultivated a 'specialty.' I have played everything from Bach to Debussy, for real art should be international!"
Ysaye himself has an almost marvelous right-arm and fingerboard control, which enables him to produce at will the finest and most subtle tonal nuances in all bowings. Then, too, he overcomes the most intricate mechanical problems with seemingly effortless ease. And his tone has well been called "golden." His own definition of tone is worth recording. He says it should be "In music what the heart suggests, and the soul expresses!"
"With regard to mechanism," Ysaye continued, "at the present day the tools of violin mastery, of expression, technic, mechanism, are far more necessary than in days gone by. In fact they are indispensable, if the spirit is to express itself without restraint. And the greater mechanical command one has the less noticeable it becomes. All that suggests effort, awkwardness, difficulty, repels the listener, who more than anything else delights in a singing violin tone. Vieuxtemps often said: _Pas de trait pour le trait--chantez, chantez_! (Not runs for the sake of runs--sing, sing!)