Clarinet quintet Clarinet quintet Traditionally a clarinet quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string quartet of two violins, one viola, and one cello. Now the term clarinet quintet can refer to five B clarinets; four B clarinets and a bass clarinet; three B clarinets and two bass clarinets; one E clarinet, two B clarinets, and two bass clarinets; or one E clarinet, two B clarinets, one E alto clarinet, and one bass clarinet. The term is also used to refer to a piece written for one of these ensembles. One of the earliest and
String Quintet (Bruckner) In a letter to the Florian priest and Regens Chori Ignaz Traumihler Bruckner reports on the completion of his string quintet) and at the same time hopes for the premiere by Josef Hellmesberger: "My quintet is ready! Hofkapellm (dialect). Hellmesberger is completely out of joint with joy, u wills perform. He's totally changed, u is huge." In fact, Hellmesberger had hesitated with the premiere. The Bruckner biographer August Göllerich notes: "As with the genius of any impression is converted into a gigantic, Bruckner seems to have taken even some authoritative words of Hellmesberger on the now completed quintet too seriously."