Chamber music for large ensembles: Sextets, Septets & Octets

Brahms composed two Sextets for two violins, two violas & two cellos, one in B-flat Major, op.18 & another in G Major, op.36.

Beethoven composed a Septet for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello & double bass. It was in E-flat Major, op.20 & dedicated to Empress Maria Theresa, like Haydn's Symphony in C Major, Hob.1/48.

Schubert's Octet in F Major, D 803 was composed for a string quartet, double bass, clarinet, horn & bassoon.

Mendelssohn's Octet in E flat Major, op.20 had 4 violins, 2 violas & 2 cellos & was composed when he was 16.

Stravinsky's Octet typically comprised only brass & woodwind instruments namely 2 bassoons, 2 trombones, 2 trumpets, flute & clarinet.

Tuneful, tragical, threesome who sang their threnodies in their thirties itself

Mozart (35), the most famous of the three, is immortal for his 40th Symphony, which was even adopted for a Hindi film song by Salil Chaudhuri! Chamber Music & Operas also flowed from his facile pen.

Schubert (31), was in an even greater hurry to leave this world. His near perfect chamber music piece, "The Trout Quintet", is a unique work in having the double bass in a chamber ensemble. His "Unfinished" Symphony is arguably the greatest piece of incomplete art.

Mendelssohn (38), his music filled with "joie de vivre" as his first name Felix suggests, composed the "Italian" & "Scottish" Symphonies, not to speak of the unforgettable overture to "The Midsummer Night's Dream."