In the 1920s, Paul Hindemith wrote several pieces for children or adult hobby musicians. Together with his wife Gertrud, he took great pleasure in making music at home, and as Gertrud had begun to play the violoncello in adulthood, her husband composed six duos for violoncello and varying accompaniment between 1938 and 1944. The cello part was adapted to the technical level of Gertrud Hindemith, the second part was played by the composer himself who knew to play almost all instruments. He was known to be a skilled bassoonist. With the exception of Drei kleine Stücke für Cello und Klavier (ED 2771) composed in Europe in 1938, these duos never left Hindemith's private sphere for which they had been written during his lifetime but were only published after the couple's death. The new separate edition of 4 Stücke für Fagott und Cello is based on the text of the Hindemith Complete Edition which published the original version on the basis of the complete fair copy of the composition in 2009 for the first time.