Oboe quintet

An oboe quintet is a chamber music group of five individuals led by an oboist, or music written for this ensemble.

Usually an oboe quintet consists of an oboe and string quartet. Pieces for five oboes or five members of the oboe family are uncommon (only two are listed below): double reed quintets are not only rare but almost always include a bassoon.

Of the 105 listed quintets, 35 were composed between 1770 and 1825, none in the next 65 years, 3 between 1880 and 1920, 27 between 1920 and 1980, and 40 since.

The most performed and recorded oboe quintets are probably those by Arnold Bax and Arthur Bliss, who both dedicated their pieces to the British oboist Léon Goossens.

Quintets for oboe and string quartet

These pieces are for oboe, two violins, viola, and cello unless otherwise indicated.

Other settings

See also

• Oboe quartet

Notes

1. ↑ Years in italics are estimates, which may be off by more than a decade.
2. ↑ Bax oboe quintet program notes
3. ↑
   1. 1-5 in G, F, D, A, and E-flat major, and # 6 in D minor.
4. ↑ Entitled 'Somerset Pastoral' and 'The Passing of the Faery'
5. ↑ The oboist also plays the English horn
6. ↑ Winner of the RPS Composition Prize 1991. Revised in 1999
7. ↑ Composer's own adaptation from the 4th movement of his 1975 Oboe concerto
8. ↑ Commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
9. ↑ Alternatively for oboe, horn, violin, viola and cello
10. ↑ Later arranged for oboe and string orchestra
11. ↑ In 1935 arranged for oboe and string orchestra as his "Oboe concerto No 1
12. ↑ Transcribed by the oboist Lajos Lencses. Originally 14 pieces for oboe and piano
13. ↑ The oboist also plays the English horn and oboe d'amore
14. ↑ Receive the Daily Telegraph chamber music prize in 1933
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 For oboe, violin, viola, cello, and double bass.
16. ↑ For oboe, violin, two violas, and cello. This is a transcription (a.o. by the oboist Humbert Lucarelli) of Mozart's String Quintet No. 2, which was the composer's own arrangement of his earlier Serenade No. 12 for Winds
17. ↑ In B-flat, D, F, C, Ar, and E-flat major.
18. ↑ There is one undated manuscript in the Biblioteca Comunale in Treviso
19. ↑ Written to be played by either oboe or clarinet.
20. ↑ Composer's arrangement; originally for oboe and piano
21. ↑ Porter's last major work; written for the oboist Robert Bloom
22. ↑ Originally for oboe and piano, in 2003 transcribed for oboe and piano quintet; piano dropped in 2007
23. ↑ For 2 oboes, oboe d'amore, English horn, and heckelphone
24. ↑ For oboe, 2 oboe d'amores, and 2 English horns
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 For oboe, violin, viola, cello, and piano.
26. ↑ Published posthumously in 1808, but thought to be an early work
27. ↑ For oboe, violin, two violas, and horn or bassoon.
28. ↑ For oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass
29. ↑ For oboe, violin, viola, cello, and clavichord

v t e Members of the oboe family Instruments Piccolo oboe Piccolo heckelphone Oboe Baroque oboe Oboe d'amore Cor anglais (English horn) Oboe da caccia Bass/baritone oboe Heckelphone Lupophon Contrabass oboe Ensembles & genres Oboe quartet Oboe quintet