Edward Elgar spent the summer of 1918 in the depths of the Sussex countryside. In August he received reports of the approaching end of the First World War, and this good news so inspired him that he was able to finish an initial draft of his great Sonata for Violin and Piano in barely four weeks. Writing in his diary, he noted laconically “Wrote some music”. His wife, Alice, was more demonstrative: “E. writing wonderful new music, different from anything else of his”.

This magnificent work is now available in a Henle Urtext edition by the violinist and Elgar expert Rupert Marshall-Luck. He has examined and evaluated the many sources according to all the requirements of Urtext editing — the sketches, drafts, autograph fair copies, proofs and the first edition.