For our Urtext edition of the Clarinet Sonata op. 167 we were able to consult the autograph for the first time. “At the moment I am putting my last ounce of energy into giving seldom considered instruments an opportunity to be heard”, Saint-Saëns wrote to a friend in April of the year he died. A sonata for oboe, one for clarinet and one for bassoon were thus composed; yet he was not to hear the premieres.

As far as form and infl ection are concerned, the three wind sonatas op. 166 –168 hark b...