The lecture will feature a historical examination of Jean Françaix’s upbringing and political, social, and cultural factors, in order to reveal insight regarding Françaix’s motivations for writing "L’Horloge de Flore pour hautbois solo and orchestre." Furthermore, the lecture will include an analysis of several compositional strategies that Françaix employed to musically illustrate the subject matter: Swedish botanist Carl von Linné’s concept for a floral structure that would allow bystanders to decipher the time of day based on which flowers on the structure are in bloom. Finally, the lecture will trace the difficulties that are found in the original piano reduction and will introduce a transcription of the piece for solo oboe, woodwind quartet, and piano, that may result in increased performances and general awareness of the piece. The lecture will conclude with the presentation of a studio recording of the chamber transcription.