Book excerpt: "The Premier Oboist of Europe": A Portrait of Gustave Vogt describes the life and achievements of the most prolific composer of oboe music in the nineteenth century. This book attempts to stimulate appreciation of Gustave Vogt (1781-1870) as musician and historical personality. It brings together portraiture, personal correspondence, concert reviews, autographs, and countless other documents including Vogt's Conservatoire exam reports, a detailed work list of Vogt's compositions, and the first complete transcription and translation of his unpublished oboe method. Despite his exceptional career and the seminal position in the history of the oboe, Vogt's long and active career have been largely passed over. He is remembered primarily for being the teacher of oboists who took up posts in France and England. In truth, however, during his long life Vogt witnessed huge transformations, affecting not only musical fashion but the social fabric of the world about him. After being trained at the Paris Conservatoire, he earned considerable repute from his appearances in concert hall and salon. Like most artists of his day, Vogt performed his own compositions but was also praised for his skill as a chamber musician, most notably in the wind quintet that premiered the works of Anton Reicha. As well as reawakening appreciation of a musician, known in his day as Europe's greatest oboist, this book posits an alternative viewpoint by writing history from the perspective of a musician caught up in the flow of his times--an extraordinary personality who was representative of the place and time in which he lived, rather than an exception to them.