The Octet in F major, D. 803 was composed by Franz Schubert in March 1824. It was commissioned by the renowned clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer and came from the same period as two of Schubert's other major chamber works, the 'Rosamunde' and 'Death and the Maiden' string quartets.
Consisting of six movements, the Octet takes almost an hour to perform.
The Octet boasts the largest scale for any chamber work by Schubert. It is scored for a clarinet, a bassoon, a horn, two violins, a viola, a cello, and a double bass. This instrumentation is similar to that of the Beethoven Septet, differing only by the addition of a second violin.
In response to a reported request by Troyer for a work similar to Beethoven's Septet, Op. 20, Schubert composed the Octet in early 1824. The work was first performed at the home of Troyer's employer, the Archduke Rudolf (to whom Beethoven's Archduke Trio is dedicated) and included many of the musicians who premiered the Septet. [1]
The basic structure of the movements is similar to those of the Septet, as are many of the key relationships between the movements and principal key (E-flat for the Septet, F major of the Octet). [2] The fourth movement variations are based on a theme from Schubert's Singspiel Die Freunde von Salamanka . [3]
The Pascal Quartet with Jacques Dumont, violin I, Maurice Crut, violin II, Léon Pascal, viola and Robert Salles, cello, recorded the Octet in the early 1950s for the label (Musical Masterpiece Society MMS-2219).
The Melos Ensemble was founded to perform works such as the Octet for wind instruments and strings. The Octet was recorded in 1967 with Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Neill Sanders (horn), Emanuel Hurwitz and Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Terence Weil (cello) and Adrian Beers (double bass). [4]
A recording of the chamber ensemble of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Iona Brown (violin I) and Timothy Brown (horn) won a Grand Prix du Disque. [5]
The Camerata Freden recorded it in 2003 with Adrian Adlam (violin I), Cristiano Gualco (violin II), Michael Hesselink (clarinet), Marjolein Dispa (viola), Michel Dispa (cello), Ilka Emmert (double-bass), Letizia Viola (bassoon) and Ron Schaaper (horn). [6] [7]
Janine Jansen (violin I) along with Gregory Ahss (violin II), Nimrod Guez (viola), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Rick Stotijn (double bass), Andreas Ottensamer (clarinet), Fredrik Ekdahl (bassoon) and Radek Baborák (horn) performed, and (video) recorded, the piece at the International Chamber Music Festival 2015 in Utrecht. [8] [9]
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21, was dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an early patron of the composer. The piece was published in 1801 by Hoffmeister & Kühnel of Leipzig. It is not known exactly when Beethoven finished writing this work, but sketches of the finale were found to be from 1795.
A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry.
The two Serenades, Op. 11 and 16, represent early efforts by Johannes Brahms to write orchestral music. They both date from after the 1856 death of Robert Schumann when Brahms was residing in Detmold and had access to an orchestra.
In music, a nonet is a chamber music composition which requires nine musicians for a performance. The standard nonet scoring is for wind quintet, violin, viola, cello, and double bass, though other combinations are also found. Additionally, the term may apply to a group of nine musicians regardless of whether they are playing chamber music.
The Septet in E-flat major for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass, Op. 20, by Ludwig van Beethoven, was sketched out in 1799, completed, and first performed in Vienna in 1800 and published in 1802. The score contains the notation: "Der Kaiserin Maria Theresia gewidmet". It was one of Beethoven’s most popular works during his lifetime, much to the composer's dismay. Several years later, Beethoven even wished the score to have been destroyed, saying: "That damn work! I wish it were burned!"
Adrian Adlam is a British violinist, conductor and music educator. He was educated at Westminster Abbey, Winchester College, Conservatoire Royale de Musique of Brussels and the Hochschule fur Musik, Hanover.
Hyacinthe Jadin was a French composer who came from a musical family. His uncle Georges Jadin was a composer in Versailles and Paris, along with his father Jean Jadin, who had played bassoon for the French Royal Orchestra. He was one of five musical brothers, the best known of whom was Louis-Emmanuel Jadin.
The Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D 417, is a symphony by Franz Schubert completed in April 1816 when Schubert was 19 years old, a year after his Third Symphony However, it was not premiered until November 19, 1849, in Leipzig, more than two decades after Schubert's death. The symphony was called the Tragic by its composer.
Felix Mendelssohn's Sextet in D major, Op. 110, MWV Q 16, for piano, violin, two violas, cello, and double bass was composed in April–May 1824, when Mendelssohn was only 15, the same time he was working on a comic opera Die Hochzeit des Camacho. Its composition took place between the Viola Sonata and the Piano Quartet No. 3. It also preceded the famous Octet, Op. 20 by about a year. 1824 is also the probable year of the composition of the Clarinet Sonata. Like the latter, the Sextet was not published during the composer's lifetime. Its first edition was issued in 1868 as a part of a complete collection of Mendelssohn's works, hence the misleadingly high opus number.
The Melos Ensemble is a group of musicians who started in 1950 in London to play chamber music in mixed instrumentation of string instruments, wind instruments and others. Benjamin Britten composed the chamber music for his War Requiem for the Melos Ensemble and conducted the group in the first performance in Coventry.
Josef Triebensee (Trübensee) was a Bohemian composer and oboist.
Felix Mendelssohn wrote thirteen string symphonies between 1821 and 1823, when he was between 12 and 14 years old.. These symphonies were tributes to Classical symphonies especially by Joseph Haydn, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The Scharoun Ensemble is a German chamber music group, consisting of members of the Berliner Philharmoniker. The repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music.
Mass No. 1 in F major, D 105, is a Mass composed by Franz Schubert in 1814. It is scored for two soprano soloists, two tenor soloists, alto and bass soloists, SATB choir, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo. It was the first of Schubert's Masses to be performed, and is of the missa solemnis type.
Franz Lachner’s Nonet in F major is a composition for chamber ensemble published in 1875.
Charles Villiers Stanford's Serenade in F major, Op. 95 is a composition for a chamber ensemble of nine soloists, composed in 1905.
The Serenade for flute, violin and viola, Op. 25, is a chamber composition by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is in the key of D major.
The Nonet in E-flat major, Op. 38, is an 1849 composition for chamber ensemble by French composer Louise Farrenc.