The overall layout resembles a serenade and is in fact more or less the same as that of Mozart's string trio, K. 563 in the same key, but Beethoven expands the form by the addition of substantial introductions to the first and last movements and by changing the second minuet to a scherzo. The main theme of the third movement had already been used in Beethoven's Piano Sonata, (Op. 49 No. 2), which was an earlier work despite its higher opus number. The finale features a violin cadenza.

Date of composition 1799
Premiered 1800
First published 1802
Type Septet
Tonality E-flat Major
Catalogue Op. 20
Instruments Clarinet
Horn
Bassoon
Violin
Viola
Cello
Double Bass
Arrangements Franz Liszt: Grand septuor de Beethoven, S. 465
Autotranslations beta Ludwig van Beethoven: Septet en mi bémol majeur, Op. 20
Ludwig van Beethoven: Settetto in mi bemolle maggiore, Op. 20
Ludwig van Beethoven: Septett Es-dur, Op. 20