About this edition
Composed in 1885 for the celebrated flautist Paul Taffanel and his Société de Musique de Chambre pour Instruments à Vent, Gounod's Petite Symphonie is one of the cornerstones of the wind ensemble repertoire — a four-movement work of Mozartean grace scored for a nonet of flute and pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons. Its prominent solo flute line (Gounod's tribute to Taffanel himself), its songful Andante cantabile, and its sparkling Scherzo and Finale have made it a beloved fixture of chamber-orchestra and wind-ensemble programs for well over a century.
This printing reproduces the full score issued by Costallat & Cie of Paris in 1904 (plate number C.& C. 1000), a clean and carefully engraved French edition that has long served conductors and performers as a reliable reference text. As one of the early printed scores of the work to circulate widely after Gounod's death, the Costallat edition preserves the typographic clarity and idiomatic French engraving conventions of its era, making it especially valued by scholars studying late nineteenth-century performance practice and by ensembles preferring a historically grounded source.
About this edition:
- Format: Full orchestral score (conductor's score)
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches, printed for clear reading at the podium or desk
- Source: Reproduced from the Paris: Costallat, 1904 edition (plate C.& C. 1000), now in the public domain
- Catalog: Gounod, Petite Symphonie, CG 560
- Publisher: Purple 4R Publishing
This volume is a faithful reprint of a historical edition that has entered the public domain, which means this remarkable score can once again sit on music stands and library shelves where it belongs. We hope it brings Gounod's wind nonet to a new generation of players, students, and listeners.