A grand sonata to resemble a symphony with its four movements in half an hour of music, this is the third of E. Jancourt's ‘TROIS GRANDES SONATES pour basson avec accompagnement d'un 2° Basson’ composed in 1847 and published by Billaudot in the Costallat collection.
In the history of the bassoon, the figure of Eugène Louis-Marie Jancourt is certainly one of the most important. Born in France in 1815, he was a virtuoso bassoonist, a passionate pedagogue and a composer, as well as having dedicated himself, together with his colleague Luois Auguste Buffet, to modifying the bassoon in its form at the time to make it a more reliable solo instrument. When he entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19, Eugène brought with him a suitcase full of talent and a case with a bassoon in poor condition. So his teacher, F.R. Gebauer, who did not want to see such a promising pupil's failure because of a ruined instrument, gave him one of his bassoons as a present. His generosity was soon rewarded by winning an important prize set up by the conservatory for its best pupils in his second year. He was to graduate in 1837 at the age of 22, only three years at the conservatoire. His playing was known for its ‘purity and charm which, in its resemblance to the human voice, avoided all elements of the grotesque’. In 1843, he joined the Théâtre Italien as first bassoon, a role he held until 1869. He also toured Italy, as well as London and various cities in France. He became a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire in 1875 until 1891 when he retired and continued to make improvements to the bassoon in its mechanical deficiencies. Eugène Jancourt died on 29 January 1901 in Boulogne-ser-Seine at the age of 85. He left 119 published works, most of them dedicated to his beloved bassoon. The recording features Giulia Clocchiatti
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