The ensemble of eight wind players popular in Vienna entered Germany around 1784, when the Austrian Emperor's brother became Elector in Bonn and brought along his Viennese Harmonie. This music loving Prince placed the fourteen year old Beethoven on retainer as court organist, and sometime before 1792, Beethoven wrote this Octet for his ensemble. Later that year, the Elector sent Beethoven to Vienna for advanced study with Haydn, but that teacher pupil relationship was not successful: Beethoven revised this Octet there and passed it off on Haydn as a new work. When Haydn sent it back to Bonn as evidence of his pupil's progress, it was recognized as an earlier work, and the revelation of Beethoven's deception was an embarrassment to all.
In 1795, Beethoven converted the Wind Octet into a String Quintet published the following year as his Op. 4. The wind version was not published until 1830, two years after the composer's death, when it was arbitrarily assigned the late Op. 103, a number that had accidentally been left vacant. This cheery, light-toned work is entertainment music by a young composer of huge gifts, idiomatically set for wind instruments.
It opens with a bright and almost shiny Allegro; it continues with an Andante in large part a tender lyrical duet for oboe and bassoon, and with a lively Minuet; it closes with a Presto Finale.
Program notes by © Susan Halperin 2025