Following the enthusiastic reception of his first Violin Sonata (HN 980), it was clear to Fauré that he would continue to write chamber music. In 1880 he wrote a little piece for cello and piano that was intended as the slow movement for a sonata. However, Fauré gave up the sonata project, instead publishing the piece under the title Élégie. It was so successful that Fauré was urged by the publisher to write further pieces. The conductor Édouard Colonne commissioned a version of the Élégie for orchestra in 1895, which was premièred two years later. As usual, Henle's Urtext edition contains both a marked and an unmarked solo part.