Presents

Carlo Antonio Campioni

Trio in g minor for 2 Violins & Cello, Op.4 No.2

Carlo Antonio Campioni (1720–1788) was actually French and was born in the French town of Luneville in the province of Lorraine. His original name was Charles-Antoine Campion. His father was in the service of the Duke of Lorraine which at the time belonged to Austria and the Habsburg Empire. When the Duke was transferred to Florence 1737, Campioni's family moved as well and from that point on, Campioni primarily lived in Italy and Italianized his name. Little is known of Campioni prior to his arriving in Italy. But there, he is said to have studied with Pietro Nardini, Giuseppe Tartini and Giovanni Battista Martini, who became his mentor and helped him obtain important posts. Campioni's music became much admired throughout Europe and even North America. Thomas Jefferson was known to have owned a large collection of Campioni's violin sonatas and chamber music, quite possibly this trio. As a favorite of the Habsburgs, Campioni's music was often performed at important state occasions such as the wedding of Joseph II and the funeral of of Maria Theresa. He was, like most composers from this period, a prolific composer. Trio sonatas were his favorite form of chamber music, and he wrote at least 60 of them. His works were often brought out by different publishers as was the case with the music of Boccherini, Pleyel and others from this time.

The Trio in g minor was brought out by two publishers. The then world famous English publisher Walsh brought out a set of six trios calling them Op.4, the g minor being No.2. Jefferson would have owned the Walsh edition. The French publisher Le Clerc brought out a set of eight trios of which the g minor is No.8. We believe they were also published in Amsterdam. There has been no conclusive determination as to when these trios were composed, but as they combine elements of the late Baroque and early Clssical eras, we believe they date from the early 1760s.

We have reprinted the original 1770 Walsh edition. As one might expect of paper that is 250 years old, it does not look like a those works published in the late 19th or 20th centuries. However, it is easy to ready and in no way is hard to perform. It is a pleasant works, good enough for concert as well as home music makers.

Parts: $12.95