(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.
Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 41/1, for Flute, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon
Gebauer's Trois Quatuors concertants, Op. 41, for flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon, is described on its title page as the 4e Livre d'Instruments à vents. The present work was first printed by the Paris publisher Jouve under plate number 76 and appeared around 1808. On the print, Gebauer identifies himself as "de la Chapelle de S. M. l'Empereur, et de l'Académie Impériale." This "book" of wind quartets had already been preceded by several works for the same forces, namely Op. 20 (published as ROM 234–ROM 236) and Op. 27. Gebauer also published quartets for other combinations, for instance for two clarinets, horn and bassoon, as well as three quartets for horn, violin, viola and bass, Op. 37 (ROM 076).
The work is dedicated to his elder brother Michel-Joseph, who later died during the retreat of Napoleon's Grande Armée in the collapse of the Russian campaign.
In the literature and in early advertisements in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of Leipzig, Op. 41 is referred to simply as "the quartet" — apparently meaning No. 3 in G minor. As a result, it has largely been forgotten that the set originally comprised three quartets.
