Carl Heinrich Graun (1703/4–1759), like most other galant composers attached to the Berlin court of Frederick the Great, wrote a significant number of trio sonatas, versions of which exist with different scorings: two violins (or flutes) and continuo, violin, flute and continuo, and violin (or flute/viola da gamba) and keyboard. Of particular interest is the beautiful Trio published here, which survives in two different tonalities, E flat major and E major. The E major version, for two flutes and continuo, is preserved in a single source at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen. The transposition from the original key of E flat, which the composer himself undertook, places the work in a brighter tonality, albeit one that presents more of a challenge to players of the baroque flute.

That this trio was remarkably popular throughout the late Baroque and Classical periods is apparent from many surviving manuscript copies (of the E flat major version) that date from 1740 to 1800. It would moreover appear that the work was admired by other composers, including Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht who included it in a set of set of six trio sonatas, purportedly from his own pen, which he published in Paris, c.1750.

 Music example (pdf)