Sonata for flute and piano in E minor (Op 68, No 5)

François Devienne (1759-1803) was a French composer, bassoonist and flutist who during his lifetime became known as the "Mozart of the Flute". In 1974 Devienne published his method for the one-keyed flute which helped him to secure his professor position at the Paris Conservatoire in 1795. Devienne wrote mostly for wind instruments, including dozen flute concertos. 

Born in 1759 in Joinville, Haute-Marne in the Champagne-Ardenne, he received his earliest musical training from Morizot, the organist in Joinville. After spending several years of music studies from various teachers he took a bassoonist position in the orchestra of the Opéra in Paris in 1779. There he pursued flute studies with the orchestra’s principal flautist, Félix Rault to whom he later dedicated the last of his flute concertos.
From 1780 until 1785 he entered the service of Cardinal de Rohan as a chamber musician. Additionally, like many prominent musicians of the 18th-century, he joined the Freemasons, and some sources claim that most likely he became a member of the orchestra of the Loge Olympique during the 1780s in which he would have worked closely with its extraordinary leader, Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

On 24 December 1782 Devienne premiered as a flute soloist with "a new flute concerto", probably his Flute Concerto No. 1 in D major, at the Concert Spirituel.
From 1782 to 1785 Devienne appeared at the Concert Spirituel as a soloist on at least 18 occasions but after 3 April 1785 he did not perform there again for another four years. His place of employment during this period is uncertain but it is possible that he may have been at Versailles as a member of the Band of the Swiss Guards.

In the autumn of 1790 he joined the military band of the Paris National Guard where his duties included teaching music to the children of French soldiers. This organization officially became the Free School of Music of the National Guard in 1792 which in 1795 became the Paris Conservatoire.

As a result of his teaching experience at The Free School, Devienne wrote a method for the one-keyed flute that was published in 1794. This well-known work contains information on flute technique and performance practice as well as a series of flute duets of progressive difficulty. When the Paris Conservatoire was established the following year, Devienne was appointed one of its nine elected administrators and professor of flute. Five of his students won prizes at the Conservatoire between 1797 and 1801; and one of them, Joseph Guillou, was later appointed professor of flute as well.
Overall Devienne composed thirteen flute concertos.