In Giuseppe Maria Cambini’s vast production of chamber music we find several works which involve the use of the flute. The Six Trio Concertans op. 26 for flute, violin and viola are made up of six trios, each divided into two movements, the first of which is always an Allegro, the second a dance or a Rondo. Unlike most of the chamber compositions of the time, the viola part – since Cambini himself was a good violist – is decidedly virtuosic while at the same time needing to act as a bass. In the same period, Boccherini, the friend of his youth who had moved to Spain, was using the cello in his own compositions, highlighting even more the virtuosic aspect.
This edition is based on the original printed edition in separate parts, presumably published in 1782 or 1783, and held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fonds Ancien.