Beethoven's Septet
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- What you'll hear
- All about the music
Frothy. Entertaining. The pop music of its day.
Who’s on stage
A small but perfectly formed group of musicians from Royal Northern Sinfonia and, leading proceedings, Maria Włoszczowska.
What they’re playing
An afternoon of chamber music – basically music for small, intimate spaces, designed to be shared between friends. On the bill is a joke from Haydn, the merry pranks of the practical joker Till Eulenspiegel as imagined by Richard Strauss, plus the lighter side of Beethoven with his Septet.
Need to know
Price: £23.50
Discounts: save if you’re under 17, aged 18-30, a group of 10 or more people. Check the details.
Running time: 2 hours, including a 20 minute interval.
Age: under 14s must be accompanied by an adult.
What you'll hear
Franz Joseph Haydn String Quartet in E-flat major ‘The Joke’
Richard Strauss arr. Hasenöhrl Til Eulenspiegel Einmal Anders!
Ludwig van Beethoven Septet
Who's playing it
Maria Włoszczowska director
Royal Northern Sinfonia
What's happening in the music?
A ‘divertimento’ is literally an ‘amusement’, and this form of classical music was really the pop music of its day, if only for the middle and upper classes. Lighthearted, entertaining, immediately appealing, it’s not an obvious choice of style for the notoriously stormy Ludwig van Beethoven. But write one he did, in the shape of his Septet. This utterly charming piece was a hit with audiences straight away and continues to entertain and delight several hundred years later.
Tickets
Sunday 25 January 2026
From: £5.00 - £23.50