- This work is scored for two horns, two violins, viola, and cello.1 The scoring recalls the classical genres of serenade and divertimento, which were popular early in Beethoven’s career, but fading out by the end of it.2
- Mozart, for example, wrote many serenades and divertimentos. Works like this were intended primarily for outdoor performances at gatherings of upper-class patrons who could afford to keep or hire a whole orchestra for private events. This type of music fell out of fashion in the 19th century in favor of music for public concerts. It also fell out of favor with Beethoven himself, who had ambivalent feelings about the aristocracy. He didn’t write any chamber music with horns (i.e., music traditionally reminiscent of divertimentos) after 1800.
- Beethoven probably wrote this work around 1795. It was published much later, in Bonn in 1810.3 Scholars are unsure why Beethoven chose to publish this work in 1810, when it had become a rather old-fashioned example of his early compositional interests, out of step with his current work.4
- In the original published edition, a double bass part is occasionally added to the cello part. This alteration is probably from Beethoven, and it renders the piece even more like a Serenade or Divertimento.5
Sources
- “Sextet in E-flat major, Op.81b (Beethoven, Ludwig van),” IMSLP, accessed November 29, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Sextet_in_E-flat_major%2C_Op.81b_(Beethoven%2C_Ludwig_van).
- Egon Voss, preface to Ludwig van Beethoven, Sextet in E flat major Op. 81b (Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 2009), iv.
- Douglas Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040026.
- Egon Voss, preface to Ludwig van Beethoven, Sextet in E flat major Op. 81b.
- Ibid.
Cut IDs
13387