Septet

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.

In jazz music a septet is any group of seven players, usually containing a drum set, string bass or electric bass, and groups of one or two of the following instruments, guitar, piano, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, or trombone.

Septet (Beethoven)

The Septet in E-flat major, Opus 20, by Ludwig van Beethoven, was sketched out in 1799, completed, and first performed in 1800 and published in 1802. The score contains the notation: "Der Kaiserin Maria Theresia gewidmet", or translated, "Dedicated to the Empress Maria Theresa."

Instrumentation

It is scored for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass.

Structure and analysis

The composition is in six movements:

The overall layout resembles a serenade and is in fact more or less the same as that of Mozart's string trio, K. 563 in the same key, but Beethoven expands the form by the addition of substantial introductions to the first and last movements and by changing the second minuet to a scherzo. The main theme of the third movement had already been used in Beethoven's Piano Sonata, (Op. 49 No. 2), which was an earlier work despite its higher opus number. The finale features a violin cadenza.

Septet (Stravinsky)

The Septet for clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano, violin, viola and cello is a chamber-music composition by Igor Stravinsky. It was composed between July 1952 and February 1953, and the first performance took place at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., on 23 January 1954. The score is dedicated to the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. It consists of three movements, the first lacking a title, and the last lacking a number in the score. The work is influenced by twelve-tone technique, especially by the Wind Quintet, Op. 26, and the Suite for septet, Op. 29, composed by Arnold Schoenberg.

Movements

Quartet note [sic] = 88 or = 88

Passacaglia, circa = 60

[number lacking in the score] Gigue, . = 112–116

Analysis

The Septet stands at a stylistic turning point in Stravinsky's œuvre, between the neoclassical period ending with his opera, The Rake's Progress, and the final, serial phase. All of the Septet is characterized by highly contrapuntal textures, but the first movement remains close to Stravinsky's earlier manner, whereas the remaining two exhibit his emerging new style. Stravinsky's adoption of serial techniques, here and in the Ricercar II of the Cantata (1952), caught nearly everyone by surprise at that time.