String quintet in 17th century Italy and can be seen as early as 1607 in Claudio Monteverdi's opera, "L'Orfeo". It can also be applied to the standard five-part orchestral string section: first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. String quintet A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet") or a second cello (a "cello quintet"), or occasionally a double bass. Notable examples of classic "viola quintets", in
Piano quintet a quintessential "vehicle for Romantic expression." In the first half of the twentieth-century, significant piano quintets were produced by such composers as Sergei Taneyev, Gabriel Fauré, Edward Elgar and Dmitri Shostakovich. However, unlike the string quartet, which remained an important genre for twentieth-century composers, the piano quintet came to acquire "a somewhat conservative profile, far from major developments" in musical expression. The following is a partial list of compositions for piano quintet. All works are scored for piano and string quartet unless otherwise noted. [[Category:Chamber music]] [[Category:Musical quintets|5]] [[Category:Piano|Quintet]] [[Category:Types of musical groups]] Piano quintet In classical music, a piano