Where Mendelssohn wrote his octet in response to Spohr, Schubert took his cue from Beethoven. As a result, Mendelssohn is an integrated version of two string quartets, where Schubert’s is employing a symphony wide color palette. His instrumentation follows Beethoven’s popular septet (1802) in adding wind instruments to his quintet: 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn and bassoon.
The work was commissioned by amateur clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer and premiered in 1824. That first performance was at the house of Archduke Rudolf, partly by the same musicians that premiered Beethoven’s septet. To make the musical world even smaller, this archduke was the one that commissioned Beethoven’s piano trio op 97, the Archduke trio, in 1811.