Septet (Beethoven)

The Septet in E flat major op 20 by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1799 outlined and came in the same year for the premiere. The first edition, published in 1802 is dedicated to the Empress Maria Theresa.

Instrumentation

Full Sequence

History

The first recorded performance took place on December 20, 1799 instead of in a concert that was the violinist and Beethoven's friend, Ignaz Schuppanzigh in the hall of Hoftraiteurs Ignaz Jahn ( 1744-1810 ) in the Himmelpfortgasse No. 1023. This concert mentioned Beethoven's friend Countess Josephine Brunsvik in a letter, noting that her brother Franz them was "excited", "especially by a septet, composed by Herr Beethoven, which must have been the ultimate, both the design and the composition after. " According to a later statement by Beethoven's friend Emanuel Dolezalek (1780-1858) the first performance but of Prince Joseph von Schwarzenberg was held at the Palais. Here, Beethoven is said to have declared proudly in view of his teacher Joseph Haydn: "This is my creation. " Another performance, the work was in Beethoven's first own concert he gave on April 2, 1800 at the Burgtheater.

The septet was soon one of the most popular works of Beethoven, which also evidenced by numerous edits. Beethoven arranged the work itself also as a trio for clarinet ( or violin), cello and piano, and this version published in 1805 as Op 38

Particularly popular was the theme of the fourth movement, which is to go back to a Lower Rhine folk song. The song is titled The Losgekaufte, however until 1838 in a publication of the folk songs collector Andreas Kretschmer ( 1775-1839 ) detectable. This may mean the song came later, on the basis of Beethoven's theme.