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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