Description
After his first cello sonata of 1872 (HN 1057) quickly gained popularity, the publisher persistently urged the composer to write a second sonata for this instrumentation. However, it was not until March 1905, while in the mild climate of Algeria, that Saint-Saëns finally acquiesced and composed a substantial four-movement sonata. He personally considered this work superior to the first sonata, even believing that its third movement, the "Romanza", was the equal of the famous "Swan" from "Carnival of the Animals" (HN 943). Despite the composer's high opinion, this second sonata remains overshadowed by the first, in part because it places greater technical and artistic demands on cellists. Our Henle Urtext edition, the first-ever critical edition of the work, now provides cellists the opportunity to rediscover this underappreciated composition.
