string quintet

Chamber music ensemble consisting of five string instruments - usually two violins, a viola, and two cellos. Luigi Boccherini wrote many works for the string quintet; the same form was adopted by Schubert for the greatest of his chamber works (1828). Two violins, two violas, and a cello were favoured by Mozart - in four of his finest instrumental pieces - and by Beethoven, Brahms, and Carl Nielsen. Antonín Dvořák's string quintet Op. 77 uses a double bass instead of second viola.