Octet (music)
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In music, an octet is a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or a musical composition written for it.
The two best known octets in classical music are those by Felix Mendelssohn (which is for a double string quartet) and Franz Schubert (which is for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violins, viola, cello, and double bass). Igor Stravinsky also wrote an octet for wind instruments (an unusual grouping of flute, clarinet, two bassoons, two trumpets, and two trombones) and Paul Hindemith wrote a less well known piece for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, two violas, cello and double bass. Dmitri Shostakovich also wrote a string octet which utilizes atonality. Other octets for two string quartets are by Louis Spohr, who wrote four of them, and George Enescu, written when he was 19 (Mendelssohn wrote his at 16).
Saxophonist David Murray leads a famous experimental jazz octet, the David Murray Octet.
[edit] Vocal Octet
A vocal octet is a choir, or performance by a choir, of eight separate parts, for example, an SSAATTBB (1st & 2nd Soprano, 1st & 2nd Alto, 1st & 2nd Tenor, Baritone, and Bass) choir.
