In 2006 Ludwig Finscher was awarded the famous International Balzan prize. For the first time in history the prize was awarded in musicology. He set aside half of the prize money for the publication of an extensively annotated catalogue on the tradition and transmission of the trio sonata from its first appearance around 1650 until the end of the first period of its dissemination, around 1780. The catalogue will constitute a hitherto unwritten basis for the history of the trio sonata, and will be not only a great contribution to musicology but also a stimulus to musical practice. An institutional base was found at the Institute of Musicology at the Universität Zürich, where I am responsible for the project. Two researchers from the university, Nicola Schneider and Gabriela Freiburghaus, are working on the project.

In spite of the elevated aesthetic and social position of the trio sonata in the eighteenth century – it was one of the main genres of instrumental music, spreading through Europe between 1650 and 1780 and being considered the most ‘noble’ genre of chamber music – the state of research into this type of composition is at the very least unsatisfactory. The genre was not only produced abundantly but composers were also enthusiastic about it, often using the trio sonata as a ‘calling card’ to make a successful entrance into the world of composition. The present state of research into the trio sonata is thus diametrically opposed to its importance in the history of musical genre. To date there is only one monograph on the genre that recognizes today's methodological concerns: Peter Allsop's The Italian ‘Trio’ Sonata (Oxford: Clarendon, 1992). Even so, this study deals only with early phenomena up to the appearance of the ‘classic’ model of the genre. There is also an article in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, but it provides only a general overview; in the New Grove one finds merely a small entry. The remaining literature is scarce, and limited to studies of single works or composers; methodological questions about the history of genre rarely play an important role in them.

The first trio sonatas were composed during the early Baroque, while the last appeared during the Classical period. The vast majority of works (with genre designations as different as sonate, suonate, balletti, sinfonie, trii, divertimenti and concerti) were written for two high instruments of equal importance and basso continuo, but even here one can find variants. Until 1700 most of the publishers were Italian, who were then joined by Dutch, French, German and English publishers. As for composers, besides well-known names such as Corelli and Locatelli you can find Von Leclerc and Gallo, Giuseppe Fernando Brivio della Tromba, Johann Schwanenberger, André Joseph Exaudet, Melchiorre Chiesa and Karl Wilhelm Glösch. The situation is especially challenging for the researcher because one discovers a great many variants of prints, collections, titles and types. During the first three years about 1,200 editions, each containing three to twelve sonatas (in other words, more than 11,000 pieces overall), emerged from more than 2,000 sources – more than expected. The project distinguishes printed editions from manuscript copies, giving priority to the former. But even here one can find trio sonatas in other collections (most prominently in Telemann's Musique de table). A special database was developed for organizing the materials concerning printed trio sonatas in all forms. The database is a repository for information on the collections, the works and the composers. The decision has been made to use only one version of each print (in order to exclude possible variants). Each collection (and, in some cases, each individual print) receives a commentary concerning the position of the work and its composer in the history of the genre. The database will be used throughout the project, but the result should be a printed catalogue, which will be published by Henle. In a final stage the database will be linked to the printed catalogue. Information about the project can be found online at <www.musik.uzh.ch/research/triosonate.html>.