Wind quintet

What it means

The wind quintet, usually called the woodwind quintet, is a chamber-music scoring of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. Remarkable about it is that here five instruments with wholly different tone generation play together: an edge-blown, a double-reed, a single-reed instrument, a lip-tone instrument and again a double-reed instrument. Unlike the string quartet, which consists of a single sound family, the wind quintet is mixed from the ground up — and precisely therein lie its charm and its difficulty.

Musical use

As a fixed scoring the quintet took shape around the turn of the eighteenth to the nineteenth century and has since possessed an extensive repertoire of its own; in the twentieth century numerous works were added, because the scoring offers composers five clearly distinguishable colours. The horn takes on a special role: as the only brass instrument it joins the group in sound toward the bottom and can act both as bass and as a middle voice, while the bassoon alternates between bass function and melody. From the wind ensemble of the Harmonie the quintet differs in that every voice is singly scored and there are no doublings.

Performance practice

The greatest task is intonation, for the five instruments react differently to temperature and dynamics; if only one retunes, the balance shifts. Agree on a fixed reference note and tune again after warming up. Clarify entries through breathing motions, not through nods — an upbeat breathed together carries the group. Watch the balance: oboe and flute assert themselves easily, bassoon and horn need room. Agree articulation expressly, because tonguing and horn attack sound different by nature. For clean closes it helps to arrange the end of a phrase in advance rather than leaving it to the ear alone.

Remember that the five voices are seldom equally loud and the balance must be re-established again and again: what carries in one movement can be too much in the next. In rehearsal listen deliberately to the leading voice of the moment and align yourself to it. Clarify breathing places together, because staggered breathing rescues long lines. Sit so that all can see one another, for entries are given through the breath. Tune again after warming up and settle a fixed reference note.