Joseph Kenn, born September 21, 1757 in Zweibrücken, came to Paris in 1782. From 1783 he was 2nd hornist at the Grand Opera in Paris and one of the great soloists of the so-called "cor basse". From 1795 to 1802 he was also professor of horn at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his students was Louis Dauprat. In 1802 he was dismissed during the reform of the Conservatoire; in 1808 he was retired as 2nd hornist. Dauprat became his successor. Kenn died on February 14, 1840 in Fontainebleau.
For the horn Kenn wrote horn trios, duos for horn and clarinet, and several collections of duos for 2 horns.
This collection of 36 trios for 3 horns originates from a print of 24 trios first published in 1797 by Imprimerie du Conservatoire in Paris under the title "Recueil d'airs". After 1808 - the title page of this print already describes Kenn as "pensionnaire de l'Opéra" - a new edition of the apparently very popular trios was published by Janet et Cotelle in Paris (plate number 91). This edition was revised by Kenn's student Louis François Dauprat (1781-1868), who expanded it to 36 trios. The newly added pieces carry the numbers 25 to 36; Dauprat had certainly come to know - and play - these additional 12 pieces during his lessons with Kenn, and now incorporated them into the new edition.
A notable feature of Kenn's compositions, written exclusively for the natural horn, is his effort to break up the rigid choral scoring of the three horns and to place solo passages in the 2nd and 3rd horn as well. Kenn's trios were later continued in the masterly trios of Anton Reicha, for which they certainly served as a model and source of inspiration. Dauprat, too, published numerous works for 3 horns in later years and paid tribute to Kenn in his horn method.
