The Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaye (1858-1931), studied with the Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski and the Belgian violinist Henri Vieuxtemps. César Franck wrote his celebrated violin sonata for him in 1886. The story of his only surviving opera is based on a real incident which occurred in 1877 during a miners strike in the Liège region. During clashes with the police, some shots were fired and a woman was killed. Possibly the only opera written in the Wallone language!