Not a great deal about Johann Schobert (circa 1720-1767) is known. He was born somewhere in Silesia, then part of the Austrian Habsburg Empire sometime around 1720. He pursued a career as a pianist and composer, primarily in Paris where he spent most of his life and died after eating some poisonous mushrooms. Contemporaries considered his compositions the equal to those of C.P.E. Bach. He came to the attention of music historians because of his intersection with the six year old Wolfgang Mozart whom he met while Wolfgang and his father Leopold were residing in that city. Schobert's music influenced the young Mozart to a considerable extent, so much so, that Mozart borrowed several movements from Schobert's piano sonatas for use in his own concertos.
The Piano Trio in F Major is the last of a set of four which were published in Paris in the early 1760's. They are rather interesting not only because they are a definite link between the older trio sonata and the modern piano trio, but also because Schobert's handling of the parts was rather advanced for the time. The work is in four movements. It begins with a stately, tuneful Andante and is followed by a Polonaise, also marked Andante, characterized by its heavy accented rhythm. Next comes a classical Menuetto with a lilting trio. The work is topped off with rousing finale, Presto.