Ensemble Explorations

Violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn and bassoon: it was for these instruments that Beethoven wrote his well-known septet. The work owes much to the Viennese tradition of the wind serenade, which Mozart had moulded so masterfully. However, in the outer movements Beethoven shifted the established boundaries of the genre in several original polyphonic arrangements. The Septet was well received from the moment it was first performed at the Hofburg Theatre in Vienna on 2nd April 1800. We can see that it was hugely popular from the great many adaptations for other instruments that were written during Beethoven's lifetime. In the wake of this Septet the German composer Louis Spohr (1784-1859) wrote his Nonet for four strings and five wind instruments in the autumn of 1813. It was commissioned by the Viennese patron Johann Tost, who instructed Spohr to 'let each instrument perform in accordance with its character and essence'. When it comes to form, this work is classically oriented, with Romantic 'empfindsame' references to Mozart, who was Spohr's greatest example.