Beethoven's Septet in a new edition
Following Beethoven's symphonies, Jonathan Del Mal has also edited this work for four string and three wind instruments.
Which new work was performed for the first time on April 2, 1800 by Schuppanzigh, Schreiber, Schindlecker, Bär, Nickel, Matauschek and Dietzel at the Hofburgtheater in Vienna? A septet for strings and winds by Ludwig van Beethoven. Was it a "Sinfonia concertante", a genre that enjoyed great popularity at the time, or a symphony for chamber music ensemble?
With its six movements and a playing time of almost forty minutes, this composition far exceeded the dimensions of the other works played that evening, the 1st Piano Concerto and the 1st Symphony, which were also premiered. The delightful interplay of the string quartet, without second violin but with double bass, with the winds playing in harmony and the solo parts of the violin and clarinet, whereby the former is required to display the highest virtuosity comparable to the later Violin Concerto op. 61, especially in the cadenza of the last movement, was received with enthusiasm and subsequently enjoyed great popularity.
Beethoven's Septet also became a model for Franz Schubert and his Octet in F major D 803, composed in 1824, and other works with similar instrumentation by Louis Spohr, Ferdinand Ries, Franz Berwald and others. Beethoven's satisfaction with the septet continued after his pride at the first performance in the Vienna Castle and his remark to Joseph Haydn: "This is my Creation" in later times according to Ignaz Pleyel. The work was published by Hoffmeister in 1802 with a dedication to Empress Marie Therese.
This Urtext edition was edited by the English Beethoven scholar Jonathan Del Mar, who completed the Beethoven symphonies in the new edition in 2000, which is now used by all well-known conductors as a basis for interpretation. The study score also contains four autograph pages from the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Kraków and is excellently equipped with a preface and detailed source notes.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Septet in E flat op. 20, edited by Jonathan Del Mar; parts: BA 10944, € 38.95; pocket score: TP 944, € 18.95; Bärenreiter, Kassel
