Notes:

Carl Reinecke had a very long career in music. As his father was a music teacher, he began composing at age 7, performed as a pianist at age 12 and embarked on his first concert tour of Denmark and Sweden at age 19. While in Leipzig, he studied with Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt. In 1846, (age 22) he was appointed as Court Pianist for Christian VIII in Copenhagen. In 1848, he "retired" and went to Paris. Popular at the" musical evenings", soirees of Paris salons, Reinecke got to know many of the composers and best musicians of this era; during which he wrote many chamber pieces and probably this Trio. He later went on to many other posts including: Cologne Conservatory, Singing Academy in Breslau, and was director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, and premiered works by Brahms. Lists of his students become a Who's Who of significant composers into the 20th century. Notably, at age 80, he recorded piano rolls for the Welte-Mignon company, making him one of the earliest recorded artists.

Adolphe Blanc studied violin at the Paris Conservatoire and wrote one opera that was performed: Les Deux Billets. However, he is mainly known for chamber music written for soirees in the salons of Paris. Later, he became conductor of the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris.

Heinrich von Herzogenberg was born in Graz, Austria and spent much of his life there. His early music shows an attraction to Richard Wagner. However, after studying the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, he became an adherent of the classical tradition and emulated Johannes Brahms in compositional style. Brahms, however, was quite critical of Herzogenberg's compositions. It has been suggested that this criticism was largely in part to Herzogenberg marrying Elisabet von Stockhausen, a pupil of Brahms, of whom he was very fond. With Phillip Spitta, the noted Bach scholar, Herzogenberg started the Leipzig Bach Verein. Later, Herzogenberg became a professor at the Hochschule in Berlin.