These 6 Piano Sonatas op. 40 comprise the first great sonata cycle by Eduard Franck. Composed in a longer period before 1882, the sonatas immediately found a great, in part brilliant reception after publication.

So, for instance, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik opined on 11 May 1883: “Since Beethoven probably few top-ranking composers have brought into being such creations as Eduard Franck. […] Several of them deserved to be performed symphonically, because prevalent in them are dramatic elements […].” Eduard Franck’s piano sonatas are perceived in our time as a modest continuation of the classical and romantic piano sonata in line with a recognized and proven model. With op. 40 now appearing, Breitkopf & Härtel begins its edition of Eduard Franck’s piano works, thus completing the picture of the romantic piano sonata in the second half of the 19th century.