Woodwind quartet

A woodwind quartet, also known as wind quartet, is an ensemble of four woodwind instruments, or music written for four instruments, at least one of which is a woodwind instrument. Combinations can be varied, but the most common combination includes flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, and does not include the French horn from the wind quintet. The woodwind quartet is not as popular as the woodwind quintet in repertoire, but more and more composers have written music for woodwind quartet especially since the 20th century.

According to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,[1] the repertory of quartets for wind instrument alone is similarly varied in instrumentation. In their divertimentos and cassations Haydn and his contemporaries tended to combine pairs of instruments – two flutes and two horns or two clarinets with two horns, for instance. Rossini's quartets for flute, clarinet, bassoon and horn are mostly arrangements. There are 20th–century works for four different wind instruments by Frank Bridge, Jean Francaix, Egon Wellesz, H.E. Apostel and Henk Badings.

The instruments in a woodwind quartet usually have different ranges that allow for rich harmonies with high and low tones.[2] The highest-pitched instrument is the flute, second highest and alto part is the oboe, third highest and tenor part is the clarinet, and the lowest and bass part is the bassoon. Since these four instruments are from different instrument families, wind quartet music has timbral variety from each instrument's resonance.

Other forms of quartets for woodwinds

Here are some combinations of quartets for woodwinds, other than the combination of flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.

1) Combinations of a wind instrument with String Trio (violin, viola and cello)

2) Combinations of wind instruments in the same family

Woodwind quartet repertoire

19th century

20th century

21st century

Notable wind quartets

See also

References

  1. ↑ ["Quartet"The New Grove Dictionary of music and musicians, second edition, No.20 p.662]
  2. ↑ ["What is a woodwind quartet?" http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-woodwind-quartet.htm]
  3. ↑ https://sites.google.com/site/tetrawind/
  4. ↑ http://amightywindquartet.com/