This collection of originally 81 duets for 2 horns was compiled by the horn player and town musician Johann Wolfgang Joseph Friedrich Thomae (1751–1835). He was born in Arzberg on 13 July 1751, the son of the musician Johann Peter Sigmund Thomae. Over many generations, the Thomae family (also spelled Thomä) produced numerous town and church musicians. They worked in and around the towns of Asch, Marktredwitz and Arzberg, at the meeting point of Bohemia, Vogtland and Franconia.
It is unclear which pieces in the collection are original works by Joseph Friedrich Thomae. The title page names him and his son-in-law Johann Adam Mainer, who from 1816 was town musician in Hohenberg, as owners. Most of the pieces are certainly copies from the second half of the 18th century. Only three composers are named in the manuscript: No. 66 is attributed to “Klauss”, probably the horn player Joseph Klaus (1775–1834). No. 78 is marked “di Knecht”, and No. 81 is a composition by the French horn player Frédéric Duvernoy (1765–1838).
Some duets, mostly headed “Fanfare”, clearly refer to hunting horn signals. Composers often drew on these signals: No. 54, for example, contains a motif that also appears in the Concerto in E-flat major, Op. 5, for 2 horns by Joseph Rejcha (1752–1795).
