The first instrumental compositions published by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier — whose posthumous reputation was built around his having been the first French composer to take up Italian concerto form — were sonatas for two transverse flutes without bass.

In the course of his career, Boismortier composed eight sets of sonatas for two unaccompanied flutes that document not only his development as a composer, but also the early evolution of the genre itself. The Six Sonates pour II Flutes travers...