The Canonic Trio Sonata in F major is a short piece by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

, catalogued as BWV 1040. The instrumentation is for oboe, violin, and basso continuo (generally a combination of cello and harpsichord or such). Played

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, the 27-measure,

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

piece is less than two minutes long. It was probably first performed on 23 February 1712 (or 1713). Besides being a stand-alone piece, Bach also incorporated it into the soprano aria ''Weil die wollenreichen Herden'' (''While the flocks rich in wool'') in the Hunting Cantata BWV 208 and into an aria ''Mein gläubiges Herze'' (''My faithful heart'') in Cantata

BWV 68 (God so loved the world), 68, is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, a church cantata for the second day of Pentecost. Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig and first performed it on 21 May 1725. It is one of nine cantatas on texts by Christiana Ma ...

. In fact in his book ''The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach'' Sir Nicholas Kenyon dismisses the piece saying "The trio BWV 1040 does not really need a number of its own since it is the wholly delightful trio sonata that springs as a postlude from Cantata 208 and then Cantata 68". Nevertheless, it is performed in its own right as an instrumental piece.Oboe, Canonic Trio in F, BWV 1040
Performance on YouTube by Heinz Holliger, Oboe; Thomas Zehetmair, Violin; Massimo Polidori, Cello; Andreas Erisman, Harpsichord

Notes

Sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach Trio sonatas Compositions in F major {{classical-music-stub