Fantasie Concertante is only available for orchestral tuning and is a wonderful work for the good intermediate bassist. Echoes of Ravel and Debussy are ever present and this is an inventive and accessible work with a strongly independent piano accompaniment to contrast the lyricism of the solo line.

Long out of print, Fantasie Concertante offers effective musical and technical challenges as both an educational or recital piece. The music of Chapuis is colourful and inventive, accessible and imaginiative, and his two works for double bass (Choral RM188 / Fantasie Concertante) make useful additions to the double bass repertoire and are unjustly neglected.

Auguste [Jean Baptiste Paul] Chapuis was born on 20 April 1858 in Dampierre-sur-Salon and died in Paris on 6 December 1933, and was a French composer, organist and music teacher.

He studied organ at the Paris Conservatoire with César Franck and in 1877 won the first prize in harmony and in 1880 the first prize for organ. From 1884 to 1888 he was organist at the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs and until 1906 at St-Rochelle. Chapuis also taught harmony at the Paris Conservatoire and both Lili and Nadia Boulanger were among his students. Later he became an Inspector for the music teaching in schools of Paris.

In addition to songs and orchestral pieces Chapuis composed the oratorio Les sept paroles du Christ, and several operas including Enguerrand (1892) and Les Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr (1921). For the latter he received the Prix Rossini of the Académie des Beaux Arts and he was also a member of the Legion of Honour.