When Ysaÿe was twenty-seven years old, he was recommended as a soloist for one of the Concerts Colonne in Paris, which was the start of his great success as a concert artist.
Mention should be made of Franck's Violin Sonata in A, written as a wedding present for Ysaÿe and his wife in 1886, which Ysaÿe played wherever he went for the rest of his life; and of Chausson's Poème, which was his response to a request for a concerto.