Grand Trio

The Grand Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano is historically significant for three reasons. The obvious distinction is that this is the first work of its type created by a female composer. In addition, it is composed in the conventional chamber music format of sonata form, slow movement, ternary form, and rondo established by Franz Josef Haydn in the eighteenth century. It is not a freestanding theme and variations or fantasy on operatic motifs, two genres which characterize French music for this combination of instruments during the 1800s. Even more significant is the fact that this is the first work by a French composer for this combination by someone who was not herself an oboist or bassoonist. The work was originally published in Paris by Schoeneberger. Bodo Konigsbeck lists a date of 1870 in his Fagott-Bibliographie, but records at the Sibley Library at the Eastman School of Music list 1850. The original publication reflected the style of the time, i.e., three separate parts and no full score.