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This fascinating Solo en Ré Majeur was composed by the bassoonist, Jean-Baptiste Willent-Bordogni (1809-1852), a slightly older contemporary of Eugène Jancourt. Set as an Italianate scena, it is initiated with an orchestral Ritornello followed by a Recitativo for the soloist: both secco and accompagnato types are utilized. A Cavatina-Cabaletta pair joined by an engaging cadenza form the body of the work.

Overall, this composition is not very long, but it is quite inspired. The title page indicates cello as an alternate for bassoon. Is this just a marketing device or was this piece actually composed for cello? Possibly this is what the rubric 'bis' attached to the Op. 3 obliquely refers.

Willent-Bordogni was married to the daughter of the great professor of voice, Giulio Marco Bordogni, from whom he obviously took the second part of his surname. Willent's first job after graduating from the Paris Conservatoire was at the Royal Italian Opera in London. The celebrated oboist, Apollon Barret, also joined this ensemble and remained there until the end of his career, but Willent-Bordogni moved back to the continent to become a professor of bassoon at both the Brussels and Paris Conservatoires. More importantly, Willent was principal basoonist at the Théatre des Italiennes. In a word, he was immersed in Italian opera.

The Solo en Ré Majeur, Op. 3bis was issued by the house of Richault in 1889 long after Willent's death, and was edited by Eugène Jancourt. How Jancourt proceeded is unknown, but I suspect he made the present piano reduction from Willent's full score and provided additional dynamics and articulation. Fétis reports that Willent composed four Fantasies for bassoon and orchestra: could this be one of them? By the way, the Solo en Ré Majeur is not completely placed in the key of D major: the Cabaletta-Polacca, which forms the second half of the work, is set in G major.

My reconstruction of the string orchestra from Jancourt's piano score was actually a simple task. I did wonder, though, if this work had originally included pairs of winds, at a minimum, oboes and horns. As I have indicated, there are many unanswered questions surrounding this beautiful work.