Published in three volumes between 1987 and 2006, Haydn: String Trios, Volumes I–III was a major scholarly editing project by Barry S. Brook and Bruce C. MacIntyre devoted to the identification, evaluation, and publication of Joseph Haydn’s surviving string trios. Produced through an international effort involving archival research, source comparison, and critical editing, the project sought to establish reliable texts for a body of works that had long occupied an uncertain place within Haydn scholarship.

Although overshadowed by Haydn’s celebrated string quartets, the string trios provide important evidence for the development of 18th-century chamber music and illuminate the composer’s early instrumental style. The preparation of the edition required extensive investigation into questions of authenticity, chronology, instrumentation, and source transmission. Editors examined manuscript copies and early printed editions, compared variant readings, traced the circulation of works across Europe, and assessed competing claims regarding authorship and dating. The resulting volumes brought together 21 trios accepted as authentic while contributing to broader scholarly discussions surrounding Haydn’s oeuvre.

The project emerged from a research seminar in the Ph.D. Program in Music at the City University of New York, directed by Barry S. Brook, Howard Brofsky, and Edward O. D. Downes. Graduate students participated directly in the editorial process, collating sources, reviewing musical texts, preparing source descriptions, and assisting in the creation of the critical apparatus. Under the editorship of Bruce C. MacIntyre, the project became a model of collaborative musicological scholarship, combining advanced research training with the preparation of a major scholarly edition.

The published volumes are accompanied by extensive critical commentary addressing source relationships, editorial decisions, performance practice, and the historical context of the works. In addition to establishing reliable musical texts, the edition contributed to ongoing debates concerning the authenticity and dating of Haydn’s chamber music and demonstrated the importance of source-based research in the study of 18th-century repertories.

Contact information:

Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 817-1991

cmrd@gc.cuny.edu