Beethoven grew up in the city of Bonn which, at the time, was part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the early 1790s, Beethoven was working for Archbishop Maximilian Francis, Elector of Cologne who retained several wind players at court to provide music during meals. Beethoven was also familiar with Mozart's serenades for wind instruments and composed several chamber works utilizing various combinations of winds during his early career. The Wind Sextet Op. 71 is scored for two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns.
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| THE BEETHOVEN HAUS IN BONN |
The four movements of the Wind Sextet Op. 71 make full use of the various timbres of the instruments, with the clarinets featuring in the outer movements, the bassoons in the slow movement, and the horns in the minuet.
Although the Wind Sextet was composed in 1796, it was not performed until 1805 and was finally published in 1810. This delay accounts for the higher opus number of 71 assigned to the piece.
