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 something quite normal. With this work Monsieur Fauré takes his place amongst the masters."