Wind quintet

A wind quintet, also sometimes known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon). The term also applies to a composition for such a group.

Unlike the string quartet with its homogeneous blend of color, the instruments in a wind quintet differ from each other considerably in technique, idiom, and timbre. The modern wind quintet sprang from the ensemble favored in the court of Joseph II in late 18th century Vienna: two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons (Suppan 2001). The influence of Haydn's chamber writing suggested similar possibilities for winds, and advancements in the building of these instruments in that period made them more useful in small ensemble settings, leading composers to attempt smaller combinations.

However, it was Anton Reicha's 24 quintets, begun in 1811, and the 9 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.

Wind quintet composers

Eighteenth century

• Antonio Rosetti (ca. 1750–1792) Wrote one quintet, for flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon

Nineteenth century

• Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736–1809) Wrote a quintet for 2 oboes, clarinet, horn, and bassoon
• Giuseppe Cambini (1746–1825) Wrote 3 wind quintets
• Franz Danzi (1763–1826) Wrote 9 wind quintets
• Johann Georg Lickl (1769–1843) Wrote one quintet
• Anton Reicha (1770 – 1836) Wrote 24 wind quintets, as well as some independent movements
• George Onslow (1784–1853) Wrote 1 wind quintet, op. 81
• Paul Taffanel (1844–1908) Wrote 1 wind quintet
• August Klughardt (1847–1902) Wrote one quintet

Twentieth century

• Carl Nielsen (1865–1931)
• Gustav Holst (1874–1934)
• Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)
• Theodor Blumer (1881–1964)
• Wallingford Riegger (1885–1961)
• Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959)
• Jacques Ibert (1890–1962)
• Hendrik Andriessen (1892–1981)
• Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
• Walter Piston (1894–1976)
• Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)
• Roberto Gerhard (1896–1970)
• Ernst Krenek (1900–1991)
• Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000)
• Alec Wilder (1907–1980)
• Elliott Carter (born 1908)
• Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
• Josef Tal (1910–2008)
• Jean Françaix (1912–1997)
• Ingolf Dahl (1912-1970)
• Alvin Etler (1913–1973)
• George Perle (born 1915)
• Vincent Persichetti (1915–1987)
• Peter Racine Fricker (1920–1990)
• Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006)
• György Ligeti (1923–2006)
• Milko Kelemen (born 1924)
• Włodzimierz Kotoński (born 1925)
• Hans Werner Henze (born 1926)
• Barney Childs (1926–2000)
• Frigyes Hidas (1928–2007)
• Robert Washburn (born 1928)
• Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007)
• Donald Martino (1931–2005)
• Ramiro Cortés (1933–1984)
• Peter Schat (1935–2003)
• Frank Zappa (1940–1993)
• Eric Ewazen (born 1954)
• Marc Satterwhite (born 1954)
• Karlheinz Essl (born 1960)

Twenty-first century

• Stephen Truelove (born 1946)
• David J. Sosnowski (born 1952)
• Shigeru Kan-no (born 1959)
• Robert Paterson (born 1970)

Notable wind-quintet repertoire

• Ágay, Dénes, Öt könnyű tánc [Five Easy Dances] (before 1956)
• Andriessen, Jurriaan, Sciarada Spagnuola [Spanish Charade]
• Arnold, Malcolm, Three Shanties, op. 4 (1943)
• Bach, Jan, Skizzen, Highgate Press [Sketches, Highgate Press] (1983)
• Barber, Samuel, Summer Music, op. 31 (1955)
• Baur, Jürg, Quintetto sereno [Serene Quintet] (1957–58)
• Bennett, Richard R., Concerto for Woodwind Quintet
• Berio, Luciano, Wind Quintet (1948)
• Berio, Luciano, Wind Quintet (1950)
• Berio, Luciano, Opus Number Zoo (arr. 1951 for wind quintet, from the 1950 original for 2 clarinets and 2 horns)
• Birtwistle, Harrison, Refrains and Choruses (1957)
• Birtwistle, Harrison, Five Distances (1992)
• Bloch, Waldemar, Serenade (1966)
• Blumer, Theodor, Serenade, Theme and Variations
• Bobesch, Constantin, Paraphrase on "Hora Staccato" (1970)
• Brett, Daniel, Seasonal Rhythms (2006)
• Bottje, Will Gay, Diversions, for quintet, narrator and piano; text by James Thurber (1994)
• Bozza, Eugene, Scherzo, op. 48
• Bujanovski, Vitali, Four Norwegian Folksongs, for quintet and soprano.
• Cambini, Giuseppe Maria, Trois quintetti concertans [Three Concertante Quintets] (ca. 1802)
  • Quintet no. 1 in B-flat major
  • Quintet no. 2 in D minor
  • Quintet no. 3 in F major
• Carter, Elliott, Quintet (1948)
• Chávez, Carlos, Soli no. 2 (1961)
• Coleman, Valerie, 2 Quintets:
  • "UMOJA" (1999)
  • "Afro-Cuban Concerto (2001)
• Cortés, Ramiro, Three Movements for Five Winds (1967–68)
• Dahl, Ingolf, Allegro and Arioso
• Damase, 17 Variations op. 22, (1951)
• Danzi, Franz, 9 Quintets:
  • op. 56, no. 1 in B-flat major
  • op. 56, no. 2 in G minor
  • op. 56, no. 3 in F major
  • op. 67, no. 1 in G major
  • op. 67, no. 2 in E minor
  • op. 67, no. 3 in E-flat major
  • op. 68, no. 1 in A minor
  • op. 68, no. 2 in F major
  • op. 68, no. 3 in D minor
• du Bois, Rob, Chants et contrepoints (1962)
• Dubois, Pierre Max, Fantasia (1956)
• Etler, Alvin, Concerto for Violin and Wind Quintet (1958)
• Etler, Alvin, Quintet no. 1 (1955)
• Etler, Alvin, Quintet no. 2 (1957)
• Farkas, Ferenc, Régi magyar táncok a XVII. századból (aka Antiche danze ungheresi del 17. secolo) [Old Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century] (1959)
• Farkas, Ferenc, Lavottiana (1968)
• Fine, Irving, Partita (1948)
• Françaix, Jean, Quintette [Quintet] (1933)
• Genzmer, Harald, Bläserquintett [Wind Quintet] no. 1 (1957)
• Genzmer, Harald, Bläserquintett [Wind Quintet] no. 2 (1970)
• Goeb, Roger, Prairie Songs
• Hall, Pauline, Suite for Wind Quintet (1948)
• Hall, Pauline, Quintet, Lyche (1952)
• Harbison, John, Wind Quintet (1979)
• Heiden, Bernhard, Intrada in B-flat major op. 56, for Quintet and alto saxophone (1970)
• Heiden, Bernhard, Sinfonia (1949)
• Heiden, Bernhard, Woodwind Quintet (1965)
• Hidas, Frigyes, Fúvósötös [Wind Quintet] no. 2 (1969)
• Hidas, Frigyes, Fúvósötös [Wind Quintet] no. 3 (1979)
• Hindemith, Paul, Kleine Kammermusik [Little Chamber Music], op. 24, no. 2 (1923)
• Holst, Gustav, Wind Quintet in A flat, op. 14 (1903)
• Ibert, Jacques, Trois Pieces Bréves [Three Short Pieces]
• Jacob, Gordon, Suite for Wind Quintet, unpublished
• Jacob, Gordon, Sextet for piano and wind quintet (1956)
• Jansons, Andrejs, Senlatviešu deju svīta [Suite of Old Lettish Dances] (1976)
• Kelemen, Milko, Études contrapuntiques [Contrapuntal Etudes] (1959)
• Klemen, Milko, Entrances for wind quintet (1966)
• Klughardt, August, Quintet op. 79
• Koenig, Gottfried Michael, Bläserquintett [Wind Quintet], for flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (1958–59)
• Kotoński, Włodzimierz, Kwintet na instrumenty dęte [Wind Quintet] (1964)
• Kurtág, György, Fúvósötös [Wind Quintet], op. 3 (1959)
• Láng, István, Fúvósötös [Wind Quintet] no. 1 (1964)
• Láng, István, Fúvósötös [Wind Quintet] no. 2 (1965)
• Láng, István, Fúvósötös [Wind Quintet] no. 3 (1975)
• Langton, Fraser, Scottish Visions; Three Sketches for Wind Quintet (2006)
• Ligeti, György, Sechs Bagatellen [6 Bagatelles] (1953, arr. from Musica ricercata)
• Ligeti, György, 10 Stücke [10 Pieces], for alto flute (flute, piccolo), English horn (oboe d'amore, oboe), clarinet, horn, and bassoon (1968)
• Lunde, Ivar Jr., Une Petite Suite pour cinq [A Little Suite for Five]
• Mathias, William, Wind Quintet, op. 22 (1963)
• Milhaud, Darius, La Cheminée du roi René [King René's Fireplace]
• Nielsen, Carl, Quintet (1922)
• Oldfield, Alan, Solos for Woodwind Quintet
• Paterson, Robert, Wind Quintet (2004)
• Patterson, Paul, Comedy for Five Winds (1972)
• Patterson, Paul, Westerly Winds (1998)
• Perle, George, For Piano and Wind, for flute, English horn, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano (1988)
• Perle, George, Wind Quintet no. 1 (1959)
• Perle, George, Wind Quintet no. 2 (1960)
• Perle, George, Wind Quintet no. 3 (1967)
• Perle, George, Wind Quintet no. 4 (1984), winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Music
• Persichetti, Vincent, Pastoral, op.21 (1943)
• Persichetti, Vincent, King Lear, op.35, for wind quintet, timpani, and piano (1948)
• Piazzolla, Astor, Milonga sin palabras [Milonga without words]
• Pierne, Paul, Suite pittoresque [Picturesque Suite]
• Pilss, Carl, Serenade G dur [Serenade in G Major]
• Piston, Walter, Wind Quintet (1956)
• Poulenc, Sextet, for wind quintet and piano (1932–39)
• Reicha, Anton, Quintet op. 91 no. 3
• Reicha, Anton, Wind Quintet in E-flat major, op. 88, no. 2
• Riegger, Wallingford, Concerto, op. 53, for wind quintet and piano (1956)
• Rosowsky, Solomon, "Moshe der Shuster" (Moshe the Cobbler) (1917)
• Rosowsky, Solomon, "Nigun ohne a Sof" (Melody without an End) (1917)
• Schat, Peter, Improvisations and Symphonies, op. 11 (1960)
• Schönberg, Arnold, Bläserquintett [Wind Quintet], op. 26 (1923–24)
• Stockhausen, Karlheinz, Zeitmaße [Time-measures], for flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (1955–56)
• Stockhausen, Karlheinz, Adieu, für Wolfgang Sebastian Meyer, for wind quintet (1966)
• Stockhausen, Karlheinz, Rotary Wind Quintet (1997)
• Taffanel, Paul, Quintet for Wind Instruments
• Tomasi, Henri, Cinq Danses [Five Dances]
• Truelove, Stephen, Unity String Quintet for Five Woodwinds, for flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (2006)
• VaIjean, Paul, Dance Suite
• Villa-Lobos, Heitor, Quinteto em forma de chôros [Quintet in the Form of a Chôros], for flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon (1928; arr. for the conventional quintet 1951)

Prominent wind quintets

• Albert Schweitzer Quintet
• Arion Quintett
• Astral Winds
• Aulos Quintet
• Bergen Wind Quintet
• Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet (Philharmonisches Bläserquintett Berlin)
• Blaaskwintet van Brussel (aka Quintette à vent de Bruxelles)
• Bläserquintett des Südwestfunks, Baden-Baden
• Bläserquintett des WDR
• Bläserquintett Matej Sarc
• Borealis Wind Quintet (Grammy nominated 2006)
• Budapesti Fúvósötös
• Calico Winds
• Carion
• I Cinque Elementi Wind Quintet
• Clarion Wind Quintet
• Copenhagen Wind Quintet
• Danzi-Quintett
• Dorian Wind Quintet
• Dresdner Bläserquintett
• Ensemble Instrumentale à Vent de Paris
• Esterházy Quintett
• Farkas Quintet Amsterdam
• Florida Wind Quintet
• Frosunda Quintet
• Golden West Winds Airforce Woodwind Quintet
• Imani Winds (Grammy nominated 2006)
• Iowa Woodwind Quintet
• Jeunesses Fúvósötös
• Lieurance Woodwind Quintet
• Magyar Fúvósötös (The Hungarian Wind Quintet)
• Moran Quintet
• New London Chamber Ensemble
• New Mexico Woodwind Quintet
• New York Woodwind Quintet
• Pannonia Fúvósötös
• Pennsylvania Quintet
• Penta Fúvósötös
• Philadelphia Wind Quintet
• Prairie Winds
• Tibia Wind Quintet
• Quintastic!
• Quintet Attacca
• Quintet of the Americas
• Quintette à Vent de Paris
• Quintette à Vent Français
• Quintette Moragues
• Quinteto Brasilia
• Quinteto Villa-Lobos
• Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet
• Sospiro Winds
• Swiss Wind Quintet
• Tritonus Fúvósötös
• Vento Chiaro
• Wind Quintet of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
• The Wingra Quintet
• Zephyr Winds
• Zephyros Winds
• Zürcher Bläserquintett (The Zürich Wind Quintet)

Sources

• Barrenechea, Sérgio Azra. 2004. “O Quinteto de Sopros” (Dica Técnica 81) Parts 1 and 2. Revista Weril 150 and 151.http://www.duobarrenechea.mus.br/artigos/quinteto.pdf
• Moeck, Karen. 1977. "The Beginnings of the Woodwind Quintet." NACWPI Journal 26, no. 2 (November): 22–33.
• Suppan, Wolfgang. 2001. "Wind Quintet." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.

External links

• IDRS Survey of wind quintet literature