Johann Joachim Quantz - Trio in C minor, QV 2: Anh, 5

The German composer-flutist Johann Joachim Quantz (1697 - 1773) held high esteem during his lifetime. He served as flute teacher, maker, and composer to Frederick II (Frederick the Great) of Prussia. His flute making led the way to innovative designs including additional key-work and improved intonation. He wrote hundreds of pieces featuring the flute and authored “Versuch einer Anwisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen”(1792) - translated editions “On Playing the Flute” - which is widely regarded as the first major pedagogical method for the instrument.

Quantz’s Trio in C minor, QV 2: Anh, 5 does not have an exact known composition date but is accepted to have been written between 1725 - 1735 based on copyist Johann Gottlieb Morgenstern’s (1687 - 1763) work.

“It was in the early fifties that the Rascher Duo added this delightful Trio Sonata by Quantz to their repertoire. There were soon three versions of the Sonata; with piano accompaniment, with string orchestra, and with band/wind ensemble. This enabled many different venues, and so it soon became our “staple” work. Since all works I had played up to this point were learned by heart, this one was included. It laid the foundation for my conception of Baroque phrasing, on which we worked diligently. Every measure of this wonderful work is present in my mind, even to this day, some seventy years later.” - CMR