Beethoven - The Septet in E-flat major, Opus 20

 

Beethoven

(1770~1827)

 

 The Septet in E-flat major, Opus 20

 

Janine Jansen, viool
Dana Zemtsov, altviool
Jens Peter Maintz, cello
Stacey Watton, contrabas
Martin Fröst, klarinet
Jasper de Waal, hoorn
Fredrik Ekdahl, fagot

Opgenomen tijdens het Internationaal Kamermuziek Festival Utrecht 2011 van Janine Jansen

                    

The Septet in E-flat major, Opus 20, by Ludwig van Beethoven, was sketched out in 1799(29세)

, completed, and first performed in 1800 and published in 1802. The score contains the notation:

"Der Kaiserin Maria Theresia gewidmet", or translated, "Dedicated to the Empress Maria Theresa." It is scored for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. It is in six movements:

1. Adagio – Allegro con brio (in E-flat major)
2. Adagio cantabile (in A-flat major)
3. Tempo di menuetto (in E-flat major)
4. Tema con variazioni: Andante (in B-flat major)
5. Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace (in E-flat major)
6. Andante con moto alla marcia (in E-flat minor) – Presto (in E-flat major)

Curtis Institute of Music, Field Concert Hall, Jan. 21, 2013

Samuel Boutris, Clarinet
Keith Buncke, Bassoon
Maureen Young, Horn
Yu-Chien Tseng, Violin
Hyeri Shin, Viola
Timotheos Petrin, Cello
Nathan Paer, Bass

                           

 

The overall layout resembles a serenade and is in fact more or less the same as that of Mozart's string trio, K. 563 in the same key, but Beethoven expands the form by the addition of substantial introductions to the first and last movements and by changing the second minuet to a scherzo. The main theme of the third movement had already been used in Beethoven's Piano Sonata, (Op. 49 No. 2), which was an earlier work despite its higher opus number. The finale features a violin cadenza.

The scoring of the Septet for a single clarinet, horn and bassoon (rather than for pairs of these wind instruments) was innovative. So was the unusually prominent role of the clarinet, as important as the violin, quite innovative.

The Septet was one of Beethoven's most successful and popular works and circulated in many editions and arrangements for different forces. In about 1803 Beethoven himself arranged the work as a Trio for clarinet (or violin), cello and piano, and this version was published as his op. 38 in 1805.

 

 

Conductor Arturo Toscanini rearranged the string section of the Septet so that it could be played

by the full string section of the orchestra, but he did not change the rest of the scoring. He recorded the Septet for RCA Victor with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on November 26, 1951, in Carnegie Hall.

Peter Schickele parodied the Septet with P.D.Q. Bach's Schleptet in E-flat Major, S.0, but replaces

the clarinet and double bass with flute and oboe