César Franck's sonata for violin and piano in A Major of 1886 is one of his last and one of his most prominent works. It has for long been one of my favourite works and I chose it for my Bachelor exam. It is a good example for the cyclic form used by various composers in the 19th century. Since the beginning, the tempo and character of the first movement have been discussed amongst musicians and scholars. Also, D'Indy, one of Franck’sstudents, analysed the themes and motives of the Sonata, which has raised discussions. The purpose of my essay is to analyse these discussions and to see whether the knowledge of this background and these discussions has helped me personally in my approach to the Sonatawhen I practiced itand whether it has influenced me in my interpretation. For this purpose, I used sheet music, literature and recordings.In summary, the knowledge of the background and of the discussions has helped me a lot to get a better access to the Sonata and thus influenced my interpretation. Without this knowledge, I would certainly not have come to such a deep and thorough understanding of the Sonata