Although he achieved fame early in his career and maintained a certain level of popularity during his lifetime, the majority of music by French composer Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) has not retained its place in the repertoire. Indeed, with the exception of one piece of chamber music, all that is still performed and recorded of Godard's vast output are slivers of his slighter piano music. But that one piece of chamber music, the Suite de trois morceaux, is still immensely popular and will probably always be popular as long as there are virtuoso flutists and a competent pianist to accompany them. A short work in three movements—"Allegretto," "Idyll," and "Valse."—the suite is musique de salon de la Belle Époque, par excellence. Composed in 1890 for the great French flutist Paul Taffanel, the suite is elegantly tuneful, deeply nostalgic, and, in its final "Valse," incredibly virtuosic. While salon music is not nearly as popular as it once was, the lost world of salon music is brilliantly evoked by Godard's suite. The Suite de trois morceaux also exists in a version for flute and chamber orchestra.

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