Beethoven didn’t write much chamber music for flute. The only examples are WoO 37 (Day 14), WoO 26 (Day 28), and today’s composition, the Serenade for Flute, Violin, and Viola (Opus 25), a lighthearted divertimento in seven movements.
The Serenade for Flute, Violin, and Viola is not as adventurous as many of Beethoven’s other compositions from 1801. Partially for that reason, it was once believed that it dated from 1796 or 1797, around the same time as the Opus 8 Serenade for String Trio (Day 89).
The seven movements of Beethoven’s Serenade for Flute, Violin, and Viola are pleasant and tuneful. Beethoven biographer Marion Scott calls the work “delicious” and “a work fit for a fairy” — not descriptions one normally associates with the music of Beethoven during this period.
#Beethoven250 Day 137
Serenade for Flute, Violin, and Viola in D Major (Opus 25), 1801
A performance during last summer’s Copenhagen Summer Festival.