Quintet E flat major op. 16

Works for or with wind instruments (then called “Harmonie” in German) were an extraordinarily popular genre in the Viennese Classical era. Beethoven also created a number of works that call for wind instruments, including his Piano Quintet op. 16 in E flat major. It was written in 1796 while Beethoven was on his concert tour to Prague and Berlin.

Unmistakable are the parallels with Mozart’s corresponding Quintet K. 452, both in the key and in the sequence of single movements. The grace and serenity that stamp the work recall the model particularly favoured by Beethoven. That he himself had a soft spot in his heart for this work emerges from the fact that he repeatedly placed it on the programs of his concerts as a pianist, and also arranged it as a quartet for piano and three stringed instruments.