String Quintet (Schubert) Its first known public performance occurred only three years earlier, on 17 November 1850 at the Musikverein in Vienna. The work is the only full-fledged string quintet in Schubert's oeuvre. When he began composing his string quintet, Schubert had already composed an impressive body of chamber music for strings, including at least fifteen string quartets, most of which were composed for domestic performance by his family's string quartet. Schubert selected the key of C major in a possible gesture to two composers he greatly admired, Mozart and Beethoven, both of whom wrote string quintets in that key, Mozart's String Quintet
String quintet a double bass, and Mozart's famous "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" may be performed with this instrumentation (the double bass being optional). Alternative additions include clarinet or piano (see clarinet quintet, piano quintet); and other closely related chamber music genres include the string quartet (much more common), the string trio, and the string sextet. A more unusual form of string quintet is the "violin quintet" composed of 3 violins, a viola and a cello (thus a string quartet with an additional violin). The term "string quintet" may refer to a group of five players that performs such works. The ensemble was standard