In the Classical period, and well into the 19th century, piano trios were almost “fashion accessories.” At the end of his life, Haydn could look back proudly at the 39 piano trios which he now left to posterity. Volume I contains the eleven early trios; some of them date from as far back as the 1760s, yet still form a unified group. Since the cello part, always loosely designated as “basso” in the source, mostly tallies with the bass part, the pieces can also be performed by piano and violin alone, and are thus a valuable enrichment of the violin and piano duet genre.