Septet (Beethoven)

The Septet in E-flat major for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass, Op.

The scoring of the Septet for a single clarinet, horn and bassoon (rather than for pairs of these wind instruments) was innovative.

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 to Professor Johann Adam Schmidt (1759–1809), a German-Austrian surgeon and ophthalmologist, and a personal physician of Beethoven, whom he attended to from 1801 until 1809.

He recorded the Septet for RCA Victor with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 26 November 1951 in Carnegie Hall.