Martin Joseph Mengal – Grand Trio for Piano, Harp and Horn
The Mengal brothers are often confused in the specialist literature. There is Martin-Joseph Mengal (1784–1851) and his younger brother Jean Mengal (1796–1878); both were horn players of note. The younger brother, Jean, trained in Paris under the horn player Heinrich Domnich and won the 1st Prize of the Paris Conservatoire in 1814, as his brother Martin-Joseph had already done in 1809. Jean was 1st horn at the Paris Opéra and composed for his instrument. For this reason, individual compositions cannot always be clearly assigned to one of the two brothers.
The Grand Trio edited here was published around 1815 by the Parisian publisher Schonenberger. Mengal dedicated it "to his friend" Gabriel Foignet. Foignet, born in Paris in 1790, was a pupil of his father, the harpist Jacques Foignet (1755–1836). Gabriel Foignet played in the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique until 1821. He composed works for his own instrument, including several with an accompanying horn.
The combination of harp and horn enjoyed a golden age in France during the first third of the 19th century. Scoring all three instruments together in a single work can already be considered very rare.
