The genre flourished with the establish­ment of the concert scene supported by a nascent burgeois public. Composers such as Anton Kraft (1749-1812) and Heinrich Anton Hoffmann (1770-1842) wrote Duos of great virtuosity and out­standing quality. Today, their works are tracked down and redis­covered in libraries and musical estates all over the world.

Although the establishment of the symphonic form and the rapidly rising popularity of the string quartet precluded further development of the genre throughout much of the nine­teenth century, many excellent works were written nevertheless. The retrieval and performance of these works is of particular importance to the Jansa Duo.

The tremendous success of Zoltán Kodály’s Duo for Violin and Violoncello in the nineteen-­twenties ushered in a veritable revival of the form. Composers such as Maurice Ravel (1875-­1937) and Bohuslav Martinů (1890-­1959) were inspired to create works to be performed by the two corner­stone instruments of the string quartet ensemble.