Franz Lachner Franz Paul Lachner (2 April 180320 January 1890) was a German composer and conductor. Biography Lachner was born in Rain am Lech to a musical family (his brothers Ignaz, and Vinzenz also became musicians). He studied music with Simon Sec ...

's Octet in B-flat major, Op. 156 is a composition for eight

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch ...

s composed around 1850. While scored for a chamber ensemble, the work is considered to be symphonic in scope.

Instrumentation

The composition is scored for

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

, 2

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

s , 2 horns and 2

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

s. This scoring is shared with the octets composed by Theodore Gouvy (Op. 71) and Carl Reinecke ( Op. 216). It is unclear why Lachner elected to replace one of the oboes in the standard

Harmonie is a German word that, in the context of the history of music, designates an ensemble of wind instruments (usually about five to eight players) employed by an aristocratic patron, particularly during the Classical era of the 18th century. The Harmo ...

with a flute, but Rentería notes that, at the time the Octet was composed flutes were beginning to be made out of metal, producing a stronger sound that better blended with the other instruments.

Structure

The composition is in four movements: #'' Allegro moderato'' #''Adagio'' #''

Scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often r ...

: Allegro assai'' #'' Finale: Allegro non troppo'' A typical performance takes around 25 minutes.

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * *

External links

* * * Compositions by Franz Lachner Lachner 1850 compositions Compositions in B-flat major {{Chamber-composition-stub