Chamber Music - Ensembles

Ensembles

This is a partial list of the types of ensembles found in chamber music. The standard repertoire for chamber ensembles is rich, and the totality of chamber music in print in sheet music form is nearly boundless. See the articles on each instrument combination for examples of repertoire.

Number of musicians Name Common Ensembles Instrumentation Comments
2 Duo Piano Duo 2 pno
Instrumental Duo any instrument and piano Found especially as instrumental sonatas; i.e., violin, cello, viola, horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute sonatas.
any instrument and basso continuo Common in baroque music predating the piano. The basso continuo part is always present to provide rhythm and accompaniment, and is often played by a harpsichord but other instruments can also be used. Contemporaneously, however, such a work was not called a "duo" but a "solo".
Duet Piano Duet 1 pno, 4 hands Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms (original pieces and a lot of transcriptions of his own works); a favorite domestic musical form, with lots of transcriptions of other genres (operas, symphonies, concertos and so on).
Vocal Duet voice, pno Commonly used in the art song, or Lied.
Instrumental Duet 2 of any instrument, either equal or not Mozart's Duets KV 423 and 424 for vn and va and Sonata KV 292 for bsn and vc; Beethoven's Duet for va and vc; Béla Bartók's Duets for 2 vn.
3 Trio String Trio vln, vla, vc Mozart's Divertimento KV 563 is an important example; Beethoven composed 5 Trios near the beginning of his career. 2 Vln and vla trios have been written by Dvořák, Bridge, and Kodály.
Piano Trio vln, vc, pno Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and many others.
Voice, Viola and Piano Voice, vla, pno William Bolcom's trio Let Evening Come for Soprano, Viola and Piano, and Johannes Brahms' Zwei Gesänge für eine Altstimme mit Bratsche und Pianoforte, Op. 91, for Contralto, Viola and Piano
Clarinet-viola-piano trio cl, vla, pno Mozart's trio K498, other works by Robert Schumann and Max Bruch
Clarinet-cello-piano trio cl, vc, pno Beethoven's Trio Op. 11, as well as his own transcription, Op. 38, of the Septet, Op. 20; trios by Louise Farrenc and Ferdinand Ries, Brahms's trio Op. 114, Alexander von Zemlinsky's Op. 3, Robert Muczynski's Fantasy-Trio
Voice, clarinet and piano voice, cl, pno Franz Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Schon Lacht Der Holde Frühling, KV 580; Spohr's Lieder
Flute, viola and harp fl, vla, hrp Famous works by Debussy and Arnold Bax. A 20th-century invention now with a surprisingly large repertoire. A variant is Flute, Cello and Harp.
Clarinet, violin, piano cl, vln, pno Famous compositions by Béla Bartók, Ives, Berg, Martino, Milhaud and Khachaturian (all 20th-century)
Horn Trio hrn, vln, pno Two masterpieces by Brahms and Ligeti
Voice, horn and piano voice, hrn, pno Franz Schubert's "Auf Dem Strom"
Reed Trio ob, cl, bsn 20th century composers such as Villa-Lobos have established this typical combination, also well suited to transcriptions of Mozart's Basset horn trios (if not to Beethoven's 2 ob. + English horn trio)
4 Quartet String Quartet 2 vln, vla, vc Very popular form. Numerous major examples by Haydn (its creator), Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and many other leading composers (see article).
Piano Quartet vln, vla, vc, pno Mozart's KV 478 and 493; Beethoven youth compositions; Schumann, Brahms, Fauré
Violin, Clarinet, Cello and Piano vln, cl, vc, pno Rare; famous example: Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps; less famous: Hindemith (1938), Walter Rabl (Op. 1; 1896).
Clarinet Quartet 3 B♭ Clarinets and Bass Clarinet Twentieth-century composers
Saxophone Quartet s. sax, a. sax, t. sax, b. sax or a. sax, a. sax, t. sax, b. sax Examples: Eugène Bozza, Paul Creston, Alfred Desenclos, Pierre Max Dubois, Philip Glass, Alexander Glazunov, David Maslanka, Florent Schmitt, Jean-Baptiste Singelée, Iannis Xenakis
Flute quartet 4 fls or fl, vln, vla, and vlc Examples include those by Friedrich Kuhlau, Anton Reicha, Eugène Bozza, Florent Schmitt and Joseph Jongen. 20th Century: Shigeru Kan-no
Percussion Quartet 4 Percussion Twentieth-century. Composers include: John Cage, David Lang, and Paul Lansky. See So Percussion
Wind Instrument and String Trio vn, va, vc and fl, ob, cl, bsn Mozart's four Flute Quartets and one Oboe Quartet; Krommer's Flute Quartets (e.g. Op. 75), Clarinet Quartets, and Bassoon Quartets (e.g. his Op. 46 set); Devienne's Bassoon Quartet, Jörg Duda's Finnish Quartets
Piano and Wind Trio pno, cl, hrn, bsn Franz Berwald's Op. 1 (1819)
Tuba-Euphonium Quartet 2 Euphoniums, 2 Tubas(Standard Quartet). 4 Tubas. 3 Euphoniums, 1 Tuba. 1 Euphonium, 3 Tubas. 4 Euphoniums 20th Century
Voice and Piano Trio voice, pno, vn, vc Used by Beethoven and Joseph Haydn for settings of Lieder based on folk melodies
5 Quintet Piano Quintet 2 vln, vla, vc, pno Schumann, Brahms, Béla Bartók, Antonin Dvořák, Shostakovich and others
vln, vla, vc, cb, pno An uncommon instrumentation used by Franz Schubert in his Trout Quintet as well as by Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Louise Farrenc.
Woodwind Quintet fl, cl, ob, bsn, hrn or fl, cl, ob, a. sax, bsn 19th century (Reicha, Danzi and others) and 20th century composers (Carl Nielsen's Op. 43).
String Quintet 2 vln, vla, vc with additional vla, vc, or cb with 2nd vla: Michael Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner; with 2nd vc: Boccherini, Schubert; with cb: Vagn Holmboe, Dvořák.
Wind & Strings Quintet ob, cl, vln, vla, cb Prokofiev, Quintet in G minor Op.39. In six movements. (1925)
Brass Quintet 2 tr, 1 hrn, 1 trm, 1 tuba Mostly after 1950.
Clarinet quintet cl, 2 vn, 1 va, 1 vc Mozart's KV 581, Brahms's Op. 115, Weber's Op. 34, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Op. 10, Hindemith's Quintet (in which the clarinet player must alternate between a B♭ and a E♭ instrument) and many others.
cl, pno left hand, vn, va, vc Schmidt's chamber pieces dedicated to the pianist Paul Wittgenstein (who played with the left hand only), although they are almost always performed nowadays in a two hands version arranged by Friedrich Wührer.
Piano and Wind Quartet pno, ob, cl, bsn, hrn Mozart's KV 452, Beethoven's Op. 16, and many others, including two by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Anton Rubinstein. (The four wind instruments may vary)
Pierrot ensemble fl, cl, vln, vc, pno Named after Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire, which was the first piece to demand this instrumentation. Other works include Joan Tower's Petroushkates and Elliott Carter's Triple Duo. Some works, such as Pierrot Lunaire itself, augment the ensemble with voice or percussion.
Wind instrument and string quartet wind instrument, 2 vn, va, vc Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Franz Krommer's Quintet for Flute and Strings, Op. 66, Arnold Bax's Quintet for Oboe and Strings
6 Sextet String Sextet 2 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc Important among these are Brahms' Op. 18 and Op. 36 Sextets, and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (original version).
Wind Sextet 2 ob, 2 bsn, 2 hrn or 2 cl, 2 hrn, 2 bsn By Mozart there are the two types; Beethoven used the one with cl
Piano and Wind Quintet fl, ob, cl, bsn, hrn, pno Such as the Poulenc Sextet, and another by Ludwig Thuille.
Piano Sextet vln, 2 vla, vc, cb, pno e.g. Mendelssohn's Op. 110, also one by Leslie Bassett.
cl, 2 vln, vla, vc, pno Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes Op. 34, Copland's Sextet.
7 Septet Wind and String Septet cl, hrn, bsn, vln, vla, vc, cb Popularized by Beethoven's Septet Op. 20, Berwald's, and many others.
8 Octet Wind and String Octet cl, hrn, bsn, 2 vln, vla, vc, cb or cl, 2 hrn, vln, 2 vla, vc, cb Schubert's Octet D. 803 (inspired by Beethoven's Septet) and Louis Spohr's Octet, Op. 32.
String Octet 4 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc (less commonly 4 vln, 2 vla, vc, cb) Popularized by Mendelssohn's String Octet Op. 20. Others (among them works by Max Bruch, Woldemar Bargiel, George Enescu, and a pair of pieces by Dmitri Shostakovich) have followed.
Double Quartet 4 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc Two string quartets arranged antiphonically. A genre preferred by Louis Spohr. Darius Milhaud's Op. 291 Octet is, rather, a couple of String Quartets (his 14th and 15th) performed simultaneously
Wind Octet 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 hrn, 2 bsn Mozart's KV 375 and 388, Beethoven's Op. 103, many written by Franz Krommer. Including one written by Stravinsky and the delightful Petite Symphonie by Gounod.
Vocal Octet 2 sop, 2 alto, 2 ten, 2 bass Robert Lucas de Pearsall's Lay a garland and Henry Purcell's Hear My Prayer.
9 Nonet Wind and String Nonet fl, ob, cl, hrn, bsn, vln, vla, vc, cb Including one written by Spohr, two by Bohuslav Martinů, and four by Alois Hába.
10 Decet Double Wind Quintet 2 ob, 2 English hrn, 2 cl, 2 hrn, 2 bsn (Mozart's set) or 2 fl, ob, Eng hrn, 2 cl, 2 hrn and 2 bsn (Enescu's set) There are few double wind quintets written in the 18th century (notable exceptions being the Josef Reicha Partita and the Antonio Rosetti Antonio Rosetti Partita) but in the 19th and 20th centuries they are plenteous. The most common instrumentation is 2 flutes (piccolo), 2 oboes (or English horn), two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons. Some of the best 19th century compositions include the Émile Bernard Divertissement, Arthur Bird's Suite and the Salomon Jadassohn Serenade, to name a few. In the 20th century the Decet/dixtuor in D, Op. 14 by George Enescu written in 1906, is a well known example. Frequently an additional bass instrument is added to the standard double wind quintet. There are over 500 works written for these instruments and related ones.

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