In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly (since 1842) a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that plays a piano quintet. The genre flourished during the nineteenth century.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, most piano quintets were scored for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. Following the success of Robert Schumann's Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 44 in 1842, which paired the piano with a string quartet, composers increasingly adopted Schumann's instrumentation, and it was this form of the piano quintet that dominated during the second half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century.
Among the best known and most frequently performed piano quintets, aside from Schumann's, are Schubert's Trout quintet and the piano quintets of Johannes Brahms, César Franck, Antonín Dvořák and Dmitri Shostakovich.
The piano quintet before 1842 While the related chamber music genres of the piano trio and piano quartet were established in the eighteenth century by Mozart and others, the piano quintet did not come into its own until the nineteenth century.The quintets for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon composed by Mozart and Beethoven are usually described as "quintets for piano and winds" so as to distinguish them from compositions for piano and four strings. Its roots extend into the late Classical period, when piano concertos were sometimes transcribed for piano with string quartet accompaniment.
Although Luigi Boccherini composed quintets for piano and string quartet, before 1842 it was more common for the piano to be joined by violin, viola, cello and double bass. Among the best known quintets for this combination of instruments are Franz Schubert's "Trout" Quintet in A major (1819) and Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Piano Quintet in E-flat minor, Op.87 (1802). Other piano quintets using this instrumentation were composed by Jan Ladislav Dussek (1799), Ferdinand Ries (1817), Johann Baptist Cramer (1825, 1832), Henri Jean Rigel (1826), Johann Peter Pixis (ca.1827), Franz Limmer (1832), Louise Farrenc (1839, 1840), and George Onslow (1846, 1848, 1849).
Mozart (in 1784) and Ludwig van Beethoven (in 1796) each composed a quintet for piano and winds, scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, that are sometimes referred to as piano quintets.
Schumann and the Romantic piano quintet
In the middle of the 19th century, Robert Schumann's Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 44 (1842), composed for piano with string quartet, helped establish that combination of instruments as the typical model for the piano quintet. Schumann's choice of scoring reflected developments in musical performance and instrumental design.
By midcentury, the string quartet was regarded as the most prestigious and important chamber music genre, while advances in the design of the piano had expanded its power and dynamic range. Bringing the piano and string quartet together, Schumann's piano quintet took full advantage of the expressive possibilities of these forces in combination, alternating conversational passages between the five instruments with passages in which the combined forces of the strings are massed against the piano. In Schumann's hands, the piano quintet became a genre "suspended between private and public spheres" alternating between "quasi-symphonic and more properly chamber-like elements"—well suited to an era when chamber music was increasingly being performed in large concert halls rather than at private gatherings in intimate spaces.John Daverio, 'Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age."' (1997, Oxford), p. 256
Schumann's quintet helped establish the piano quintet as a significant chamber music genre during the Romantic period in classical music.Stowell, Robin The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, pp. 323–324. It was immediately acclaimed and widely imitated.Smallman, Basil. The Piano Quartet and Quintet: Style, Structure, and Scoring, p. 53. Johannes Brahms, for example, was persuaded by Clara Schumann (who had played the piano part in the first public performance of her husband's piano quintet) to rework a sonata for two pianos as a piano quintet. The result, the Piano Quintet in F minor (1864), is one of the most frequently performed works of the genre.http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2431 Rodda, Richard E. "Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34," n.p.
Subsequent compositions such as César Franck's Piano Quintet in F minor (1879) and Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet #2 in A major, Op. 81 (1887) further solidified the genre as a "vehicle for Romantic expression."
20th century In the twentieth century, the piano quintet repertoire was expanded with contributions by composers such as Béla Bartók, Sergei Taneyev, Louis Vierne, Edward Elgar, Amy Beach, Gabriel Fauré, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Mieczysław Weinberg. However, unlike the string quartet, which remained an important chamber music genre for musical experimentation, the piano quintet came to acquire "a somewhat conservative profile, far from major developments" in musical expression.Stowell, Robin. The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, p. 325.
List of compositions for piano quintet The following is a partial list of compositions for piano quintet. All works are scored for piano and string quartet unless otherwise noted.
Before 1800
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Quintet in E major, K. 452 (for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon; 1784) Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 16 (for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon; 1796) Franz Ignaz von Beecke Piano Quintet in A minor (between 1770 and 1780) Luigi Boccherini Piano Quintet Op. 56 No.1 in E minor, G 407 Piano Quintet Op. 56 No.2 in F major, G 408 Piano Quintet Op. 56 No.3 in C major, G 409 Piano Quintet Op. 56 No.4 in E major, G 410 Piano Quintet Op. 56 No.5 in D major, G 411 Piano Quintet Op. 56 No.6 in A minor, G 412 Piano Quintet Op. 57 No.1 in A major, G 413
Piano Quintet Op. 57 No.2 in B major, G 414 Piano Quintet Op. 57 No.3 in E minor, G 415 Piano Quintet Op. 57 No.4 in D minor, G 416 Piano Quintet Op. 57 No.5 in E major, G 417 Piano Quintet Op. 57 No.6 in C major, G 418 Jan Ladislav Dussek Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 41 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1799)
19th century
Alexander Alyabyev Piano Quintet No. 1 in E major Elfrida Andrée Piano Quintet in E minor (1865) Franz Berwald Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor (1853) Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major (1857) Sandro Blumenthal Piano Quintet No. 1 in D major, Op. 2 (publ. 1900) Piano Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 4 (publ. 1900) João Domingos Bomtempo (for most of the quintets some parts are lost) 3 Piano Quintets, B67-69 3 Piano Quintets, B70-72 Piano Quintet in E major, B73 Piano Quintet in D minor, B74 Piano Quintet in E major Op. 16 (pub. 1813 or 1814) Alexander Borodin Piano Quintet in C minor (1862) Johannes Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 (1864) Max Bruch Piano Quintet in G minor Op. Post. (1886) Alexis Castillon de Saint-Victor Piano Quintet in E major Op. 1 (1864) George Whitefield Chadwick Piano Quintet in E major (1887) Camille Chevillard Piano Quintet in E minor Op. 1 (1882) Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 1 (1893) Johann Baptist Cramer Piano Quintet in B major, Op. 79 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass) Carl Czerny Variations on "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", Op. 73 (1824) Rondino on a Theme of Auber for Piano Quintet, Op. 127 (c. 1826) Fantaisie sur themes suisses et tiroliens, Op.162 (c. 1825) Grandes variations di bravura on 'Fra Diavolo', Op. 232 (c. 1830) Ernő Dohnányi Piano Quintet No. 1, Op. 1 (1895) Piano Quintet No. 2, Op. 26 (1914) Felix Draeseke Piano Quintet in B major, Op. 48, (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and horn; 1888) Antonín Dvořák Piano Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 5 (1872) Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 (1887) Louise Farrenc Piano Quintet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 30 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1839) Piano Quintet No. 2 in E major, Op. 31 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1840) Zdeněk Fibich Piano Quintet in D major, Op. 42, (for piano, violin, clarinet, horn, and cello 1893) John Field Piano Quintet in A major, H. 34 (around 1815) Arthur Foote Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 38 (1897, publ. 1898) César Franck Piano Quintet in F minor, M. 7 (1879) Eduard Franck Piano Quintet in D major, op. 45 (1882) Carl Frühling Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 30 (1892) Friedrich Gernsheim Piano Quintet no. 1 in D minor, op. 35 Piano Quintet no. 2 in B minor, op. 63, c. 1897 Hermann Goetz Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 16 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1874) Karl Goldmark Piano Quintet No. 1 in B major, Op. 30 (1879) Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 54 (1914?5? published 1916) Théodore Gouvy Piano Quintet in A major Op. 24 (1859) Enrique Granados Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 49 (1894) Emil Hartmann Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 5 (1865) Peter Arnold Heise Piano Quintet in F major (1869) Heinrich von Herzogenberg Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 17 (1876) Hans Huber Piano Quintet No.1 in G minor, Op.111 (1896) Johann Nepomuk Hummel Piano Quintet in E minor, Op. 87 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; composed 1802, published 1822) Piano Quintet in D minor, Op. 74 (transcribed for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass from the Op. 74 Septet; 1816)
Engelbert Humperdinck Piano Quintet in G major (1875) Salomon Jadassohn Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 70 (1883) Piano Quintet No. 2 in F major, Op.76 (1884) Piano Quintet No. 3 in G minor, Op.126 (1895) Friedrich Kiel Piano Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 75 (1874) Piano Quintet No. 2 in c minor, Op. 76 (1874) August Klughardt Piano quintet in G minor, Op. 43 (c. 1883) Hans von Koessler (1853–1926) Piano Quintet in F major Josef Labor Piano Quintet in E minor, Op. 3 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass, 1886) Piano Quintet, Op. 11 (for piano, clarinet, violin, viola and cello, 1900) Édouard Lalo Piano quintet in A major ("Fantaisie-quintette" in 2 movements, 1862) Franz Limmer Piano Quintet in D minor, Op. 13 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; c. 1830) Giuseppe Martucci Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45 (1878) Vítězslav Novák Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 12 (1896) Józef Nowakowski Piano Quintet No.1, Op.10 (1833) Piano Quintet No.2 in E major, Op.17 (1833) George Onslow Piano Quintet in B minor, Op. 70 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1846) Piano Quintet in G major, Op. 76 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1846) Piano Quintet in B major, Op. 79b (1849) Henrique Oswald Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 18 (1895) Ebenezer Prout Piano Quintet in G major, Op. 3 (published 1870) Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 1 (publ. 1803) Joachim Raff Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 107 (1862) Fantasie in G minor, Op. 207b (1877) Max Reger Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor (1897–98) Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 64 (1901–02) Anton Reicha Piano Quintet in C minor (1826) Carl Reinecke Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 83 (by 1865) Josef Rheinberger Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 114 (1878) Ferdinand Ries Piano Quintet in B minor, Op. 74 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1817) Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov Quintet in B major for Piano and Winds (for piano, flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon; 1876) Anton Rubinstein Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 99 (1876?) Camille Saint-Saëns Piano Quintet in A minor, op. 14 (1855) Franz Schubert Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 (popularly called the Trout Quintet; for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass; 1819) Georg Schumann Piano Quintet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 18 (1898) Robert Schumann Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 44 (1842)