Rondo for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons (E-flat major) WoO 25

Besides an educational spirit, Elector Maximilian Franz, the youngest brother of the Emperor Joseph II and Beethoven's employer in Bonn, brought from Vienna a passion for musical entertainment. This courtly pleasure involved the eight wind soloists from the court orchestra performing light music of superior quality. When the ensemble was presented to music expert Carl Friedrich Junker in 1791 during a performance in Bad Mergentheim, he found exuberant words of praise: 'On the first day I already had the pleasure of listening to light music that is played every day while the Elector stays in Mergentheim. The ensemble consists of two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and two bugles. These eight musicians well deserve to be called masters in their profession. There is hardly any music of this kind in such harmony and with such a high degree of truth and perfection.'

At around the same time, Beethoven was working on op. 103, an octet for wind instruments in E-flat major for the Elector's favourite ensemble. The six-minute Rondo WoO 25, written in the same key, was intended to be its finale. He completed the piece in 1793 during his first year in Vienna when reviewing some of his Bonn works under Haydn's supervision. After Beethoven's death the work became part of his estate and was published as Rondino in 1830 by Anton Diabelli of Vienna.

From an instrumental perspective, WoO 25 is an elaborate composition with a fine balance in tone and form. Its central section or refrain (A) is repeated in variations three times and interrupted by the unique contrasting episodes B, C and D.

Formal sections: A B A' C A'' D A'''
Number of bars: 16 32 16 20 16 15 16+2
Key: E-flat C E-flat E-flat E-flat E-flat E-flat
Main melodic inst: bug cl cl bug bug cl/bug bug

The piece's true character is revealed in its instrumentation. Although oboes, being the highest instruments, usually take the melodic lead in wind octets, they are subordinate to the clarinets and in particular to the bugles in the Rondo. The bugles' dominance can also be seen in the handwritten score. Unlike the standard convention, they were noted not in third place but on the two upper staves.

By emphasising the bugles Beethoven alludes to the vastness of the outdoors, to forests and hunting. The idea of being far away is especially intensified by the final refrain in which the bugles present the theme with an echo repetition senza tempo while the other instruments answer briefly with the theme's beginning in piano and double note values. It is as if Beethoven had in mind the Elector's fondness for being lulled to sleep by soft brass music after a succulent meal. (F.G.)