With his septet for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello and double bass, Beethoven created a key chamber music work for larger ensembles. He composed the six-movement septet at the same time as his Symphony no. 1 and premiered the two works together in April 1800 at his first benefit concert in Vienna.

This Urtext edition is based on a meticulous comparison of the autograph, the first edition parts and score as well as a set of parts in the Roudnice Lobkowicz Collection in Prague, which has been used for the first time for a scholarly-critical edition. In particular, the precise evaluation of the autograph has made it possible to correct numerous discrepancies and accurately reproduce Beethoven’s notation.