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.

Composer Title Year[1] Length (min.) Publisher Record label
Bernardo Adam-Ferrero Homenaje a García Lorca for ob & str qt 2005 8' NCA
Kalevi Aho Quintet for oboe & strings 1973 29' BIS; Finlandia
Richard Arnell Oboe Quintet 1944 24'
Jan Bach Quintet for ob & str 1958 18' Meadow Music
Sérgio Azevedo Oboe Quintet 2004 AVA
Robert Baksa Quintet for ob & str qt 1972 18' Carl Fischer; Presser Capstone
Virko Baley Orpheus Singing 1994 11' Cambria; Musicians Showcase
Christian Frederik Barth Divertissement in G major for ob & str qt 1820 MusicaStorica
Arnold Bax Oboe Quintet[2] 1922 17' Boosey & Hawkes Recorded by 9+ labels
Howard Blake Oboe Quintet, Op. 131 1971 13' Highbridge Music
Arthur Bliss Quintet for ob & str, Op. 44, F. 21 1927 20' OUP; Masters Music Recorded by 8+ labels
Luigi Boccherini 6 Oboe Quintets, Op. 45, G. 431-6 [3] 1797 9 to 11' Sikorski; Peters Capriccio; MHS
William Bolcom Serenata Notturna 2005 21' Presser
Rutland Boughton Two Pieces for ob & str [4] 1937 8' Hyperion
Frits Celis Quintetto, Op. 57 [5] 1995 21' Phaedra
Friedrich Cerha Quintet for ob & str qt 2007 17'
Brian Cherney In the Stillness of the Summer Wind 1987
James Clarke Oboe Quintet 1992 9' Metier; Composers’ Art
John Cooney Taking Liberties [6] 1990 12' BMIC
John Corigliano Aria for ob & str qt [7] 1985 6' G. Schirmer Albany
Lewis Cornwell Retrospection 1981 6' AMC
Donald Crocket Celestial Mechanics [8] 1990 17' CRI
Gordon Crosse Oboe Quintet 1988 15'
Bernhard Henrik Crusell Divertimento in C major, Op. 9 1822 10' Sikorski; Peters Hyperion, Naxos
Estércio Marques Cunha Quinteto para oboé e quarteto de cordas 1999 Manuscrito
Caspar Diethelm Bucolicon, Op. 202 [9] 1982
Antal Dorati Notturno and Capriccio 1926 13' Dux; MD&G Records
Georg Druschetzky Oboe Quintet in C major 1810 13' Ambroisie
Dorothy Dushkin Quintet for Amanda 1956 New Valley
Gerald Finzi Interlude for ob & str qt, Op. 21 1936 11' Boosey & Hawkes Boston; Carlton; Chandos
Conifer; Hyperion
Christopher Fox Oboe Quintet 1995 15' BMIC Metier
Joseph François Garnier Oboe Quintet 1800 7' Koch Schwann
Dorothy Gow Oboe Quintet in 1 movement 1936 14' Oboe Classics
Stephen Gryc Fantasy Variations on a Theme of Béla Bartók [10] 1992 11' Opus One
Daron Hagen Oboe Quintet 2000 17' Burning Sled
Matthew Hindson Rush : for ob & str qt 2001 9' Faber
Gustav Holst Air and Variations for ob & str qt
Three pieces for ob & str qt Op. 2
1896 3'
13'
Chandos
John-Paul Christopher Jackson Passacaglia for ob & str qt 1993 6'
Gordon Jacob Concerto for ob & str qt [11] 1933 23' Stainer & Bell
Bernhard Kaun Quintet for ob & str 1940 Leeds
Charles Koechlin 6 Pieces, Op. 179 [12] 1942 Eschig
Rodolphe Kreutzer Grand Quintet in C major 1800 15' Boosey & Hawkes Hyperion; Koch
Franz Krommer Oboe Quintet P VII:12 in C major
Oboe Quintet P VII:13 in E flat major
1790 24'
27'
Naxos
Rolands Kronlaks Conversion 2000 7'
Henri Lazarof Quintet for ob & str qt 1997 15' Presser
John Anthony Lennon Myth of Aeolia 2008 10' ACA
Elisabeth Lutyens The Fall of the Leafe 1966 Olivan
Andrew Paul MacDonald Pythikos nomos, Op. 39[13] 1996 23' Centrediscs
Elizabeth Maconchy Oboe Quintet [14] 1932 12' Chester Music Oboe Classics; Dutton Vocalion
David Matthews The Flaying of Marsyas, Op. 42 1987 19' Faber Metronome
Robert McBride Quintet for ob & str 1948 5' G. Schirmer; ACA
Darius Milhaud Les Rêves de Jacob, Op. 294 [15] 1948 17' Heugel CPO
Richard Mills Songs without Words 1998 AMC
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Oboe Quintet in C minor, K. 406 [16] 1789 24' IMC Naxos; Capriccio; Caro Mitis; Amon Ra
Gottfried Müller Quintet for ob & str qt 1950 19' Küffner & Drechsler Cavalli
Vazgen Muradian Concerto for ob & str qt, Op. 25 1962 25' Crystal
Josef Mysliveček 6 Quintets for ob & str qt [17] 1770 [18]
Sigismund Neukomm Quintet for ob & str qt, Op. 8 in B-flat[19] 1809 26' Pan Classics
Páll Pálsson September Sonnet 1991 9' Icelandic Music
Gabriel Pierné Piece in G minor for ob & str qt, Op. 5 [20] 1883 3' Masters Music
Ignace Joseph Pleyel 3 Quintets, B.280-282 1788 J.A.Offenbach
Quincy Porter Oboe Quintet (Elegiac) [21] 1966 19' Highgate Press CRI (CRL235)
David L. Post Aria for ob & str qt 1994 6' F.E. Warren
Roger Redgate Oboe Quintet 2003 6' Metier
Anton Reicha Oboe Quintet in F major, Op. 107 1825 26' Musica Rara Hyperion; MDG; Pan
Tim Risher Words and Deeds 1993
Aulis Sallinen Echoes from a Play, Op. 66 1990 15' Novello
Gerhard Samuel Two Moods for ob & str qt 1997 LKM
Peter Seabourne Soaring [22] 2007 17'
John Shaffer Smith Quintet for ob & str qt 1951 Carl Fischer
Margaret Sutherland Serenade 1953 AMC
Tore Takemitsu Entre-temps for ob & str qt 1986 12' Schott Telarc
Joan Tower Island Prelude 1989 10' G. Schirmer Naxos
Antonín Tučapský Oboe Quintet 1997
Mark-Anthony Turnage Cantilena 2001 11' Onyx Classics
Robert Ward Quintet for ob & str qt 2005 19' Albany
Donald Wheelock Ten bagatelles 1972 9' King's Crown Albany
John Woolrich Oboe Quintet 1998 20' Faber
Anton Wranitzky Quintet in G minor [15] 1800
Paul Wranitzky 6 Quintets for ob & str, Op. 1 1789 André

Other settings

Composer Title Year Length (min.) Publisher Record label
Jos van Amelsvoort Quintetto I[23] 1994 10' Donemus
Rob du Bois Chansons pour appâter les chéiroptères [24] 1975 8' Donemus
Théodore Dubois Oboe Quintet in F major [25]) 1905 28' Silvertrust ATMA Classique
Anton Eberl Quintuor Brillant in C, Op. 48[25][26] 1790 23' CPO
David Froom Quintet for Oboe, Strings and Piano 1991 17' Arabesque
Peter Golub Quintet for Oboe, String Trio and Piano 2010
Franz Anton Hoffmeister 6 Notturnos (Quintets) [27] 1780 14' to 22' Tudor Records
Sergei Prokofiev Quintet in G minor, Op. 39 [28] 1923 20' Delos; Capriccio; Cambria
Johann Samuel Schroeter Quintet 1 in C [29] 1780

See also

Notes

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