Little is known about the life of the horn player Charles Fleury. He was presumably born in the second half of the 18th century. That he received his horn training in Paris can only be assumed. He had some of his compositions published privately, among them a quartet for horn, violin, viola and basso, on which he is credited as "Premier Cor du Grand Théâtre de Lyon."
The present set of 12 quartets, published around 1795, bears the following title on the print:
DOUZE QUATUORS
POUR QUATRE CORS
Composés et Dédiés au Citoyen Gillet
PAR CHARLES FLEURY
Professeur de Musique et de Cors
Œuvre 1.
The 12 Quartets for Four Horns were published before 1798 and were composed for valveless natural horns. In this scoring, they are among the earliest works for four horns in chamber music.
Fleury's composition was apparently well regarded among horn players: on 4 March 1806, the Gewandhaus Orchestra horn players Fleischauer, Müller, Pfau and Herr performed this work at a concert at the Theater am Rannstädtischen Schießgraben in Leipzig. On 19 May 1806, it was performed again "by request" at a concert in the hall of the Hôtel de Saxe in Leipzig.
