Three’s company

Alongside the classical forms, regarded by the French as epitomising Germanic aesthetics and a certain austerity, chamber music in France also developed along poetic lines and paid tribute to opera. Small groups of two or three musicians were no longer limited to performing sonatas or piano trios in three or four movements; they could also play popular pieces from operas (such as Werther and Thaïs), share the reveries of an elegy with audiences, or delight listeners with a fantaisie. Not “serious” enough to join the pantheon of masterpieces, these works are nevertheless enchanting.