Wind quintet

A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon).

The Prague Wind Quintet, c. 1931

Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the instruments in a wind quintet differ from each other considerably in technique, idiom, and timbre. The modern wind quintet sprang from the octet ensemble favored in the court of Joseph II in late 18th century Vienna: two oboes, two clarinets, two (natural) horns, and two bassoons.[1] The influence of Haydn's chamber writing suggested similar possibilities for winds, and advances in the building of these instruments in that period made them more useful in small ensemble settings, leading composers to attempt smaller combinations.

It was Anton Reicha's twenty-four quintets, begun in 1811, and the nine quintets of Franz Danzi that established the genre, and their pieces are still standards of the repertoire. Though the form fell out of favor in the latter half of the 19th century, there has been renewed interest in the form by leading composers in the 20th century, and today the wind quintet is a standard chamber ensemble, valued for its versatility and variety of tone color.

Notable wind quintet composers

Eighteenth century

Nineteenth century

Twentieth century

Twenty-first century

Notable wind quintet repertoire

Notable wind quintets

References
  1. Suppan, Wolfgang. 2001. "Wind Quintet". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
  2. Peter Fribbns. Peter Fribbins, 2 Oct. 2007. Web. 8 Oct. 2015. <http://www.peterfribbins.co.uk/repertoire.html#wind>.
  3. Music Haven. Music Haven, 1 July 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015. <http://www.musichaven.co.uk/Heralds-of-Good-Fortune.html>

Further reading
  • Barrenechea, Sérgio Azra. 2004. "O Quinteto de Sopros" (Dica Técnica 81) Parts 1 and 2. Revista Weril 150 and 151.
  • Brandt, Andrew (July 17, 2000). "Brandt's Woodwind Quintet List" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2014.
  • Hošek, Miroslav. 1979. Das Bläserquintett. Grünwald: B. Brüchle. ISBN 3-921847-01-X.
  • Kohl, Jerome. 2017. Karlheinz Stockhausen: Zeitmaße. Landmarks in Music Since 1950, edited by Wyndham Thomas. Abingdon, Oxon; London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7546-5334-9.
  • Leyden, Megan C. 2000. "The Story of the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet". DMA thesis. Seattle: University of Washington.
  • Moeck, Karen. 1977. "The Beginnings of the Woodwind Quintet." NACWPI Journal 26, no. 2 (November): 22–33.
  • Secrist-Schmedes, Barbera. 2002. Wind Chamber Music for Two to Sixteen Winds: An Annotated Guide. Lanham, Maryland.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-4246-5.
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