(b. 15 March 1773 in Versailles, d. 28 July 1845 in Paris) was the son of a German military musician. He received his musical training from his brother Michel-Joseph (oboe) and from François Devienne (bassoon). At 15 he joined the Garde suisse in Versailles as a bassoonist, soon following his brother to Paris, where he became a member of the Musique de la garde nationale de Paris. In 1795 he was appointed professor of bassoon at the Paris Conservatoire, a post he held until 1802 and again from 1824 to 1838. Around 1800 he became a bassoonist at the Grande Opéra. Gebauer's compositional output includes 13 bassoon concertos, 8 symphonies, and a substantial body of chamber music with and for wind instruments.
Quartets Op. 20/1–3 for Flute, Clarinet or Oboe, Horn and Bassoon
Quartet Op. 20 No. 1 in F major
Gebauer's Trois Quatuors concertants, Op. 20, for flute, clarinet or oboe, horn and bassoon, were his first work for this combination; further quartets for the same scoring followed, and he later also wrote for the classical wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon). The present work was first printed by the Paris publisher Ignaz Pleyel under plate number 232; on the print, Gebauer identifies himself as "Du Conservatoire de Musique." Since Pleyel's Paris firm was not established until September 1797, and Gebauer held his professorship at the Conservatoire only until 1802, the work can be dated fairly precisely to around 1800.
A striking feature of these Op. 20 quartets, alongside the highly accomplished writing for winds, is the excellent treatment of the bassoon. Fortunately, Gebauer avoids extreme solo demands, leaving skilled amateur musicians (in the best sense) able to play the works as well. Gebauer explicitly notes that the clarinet part may also be played on the oboe; where two staves are given, the upper one is always the oboe part. The clarinet part was originally notated in C; the present new edition additionally includes a part for clarinet in B flat. For the third quartet, Op. 20/3, a part for horn in F has been added alongside the original horn in G.
