For many decades one of the leading figures in Dutch musical life, Julius Röntgen came from a distinguished musical family and counted Brahms, Grieg, Grainger and Nielsen among his friends. In his later years he composed an important series of works in many genres, among them a sequence of String Trios written for Röntgen to play with his talented sons. The last four, composed between 1925 and 1930, are works of considerable warmth, verve and inventiveness, not least No. 15 in C sharp minor whose fourth movement, Finale automobilistico, was inspired by a Fiat 509A Torpedo car and a family incident-filled holiday in Germany, France, Switzerland and northern Italy.