Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any "art music" that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part. The word "chamber" signifies that the music can be performed in a small room, often in a private salon with an intimate atmosphere. However, it usually does not include, by definition, solo instrument performances.
Ensembles
This is a partial list of the types of ensembles found in chamber music.
| 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. |
| 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 Lieder. |
| 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 a series of 5 Trios at the beginning of his career. |
| 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 and Piano |
cl, vla, pno |
Mozart's trio K498, other works by Robert Schumann and Max Bruch |
| Clarinet, Cello and Piano |
cl, vc, pno |
Beethoven's trio Op. 11, as well as his own transcription, Op. 38, of the Septet, Op. 20; Brahms's trio Op. 114, Alexander von Zemlinsky's Op.3. |
| Voice, Clarinet and Piano |
voice, cl, pno |
Franz Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Schon Lacht Der Holde Fruhling, 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 |
Largely a 20th century invention, but growing in popularity; famous compositions by Béla Bartók, Milhaud and Khachaturian |
| Horn Trio |
hrn, vln, pno |
19th century works; specifically the Trio in E♭ Op. 40 by Brahms |
| Soprano, Horn and Piano |
sop, hrn, pno |
Franz Schubert's Auf Dem Strom |
| Reed Trio |
ob, cl, bsn |
20th century composers |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Twentieth-century composers |
| 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: Daniel Theaker |
| 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 (eg opus 75), Clarinet Quartets, and Bassoon Quartets (eg his opus 46 set); Devienne's Bassoon Quartet |
| Piano and Wind Trio |
pno, cl, hrn, bsn |
Franz Berwald's opus 1 (1819) |
| Voice and Piano Trio |
voice, pno, vn, vc |
By Beethoven you can find lots of Lieder on several folk roots for such a setting. |
| 5 |
Quintet |
Piano Quintet |
2 vln, vla, vc, pno |
Schumann, Brahms, Béla Bartók, 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 |
19th century (Reicha, Danzi and others) and 20th century composers |
| String Quintet |
2 vln, vla, vc with additional vla, vc, or cb |
with 2nd va: 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, Hindemith's (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 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) |
| 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. ([1]) |
|
cl, 2 vln, vla, vc, pno |
An example is Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes Op. 34. |
| 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 |
Popularized by Schubert's Octet D. 803, inspired by Beethoven's Septet. |
| String Octet |
4 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc |
Popularized by Mendelssohn's String Octet Op. 20. Others (among them works by 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. 108, many written by Franz Krommer. |
| 9 |
Nonet |
Wind and String Nonet |
fl, ob, cl, hrn, bsn, vn, va, vc, db |
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 Joseph Reicha Josef Reicha Partita and the Antonio Rosetti Antonio Rosetti Partita) but in the 19th and 20th centuries they are plentious. The standard instrumentation (2 flutes (piccolo), 2 oboes (or English horn), two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons) is the most written for combination of instruments. Some of the best 19th century compositions include Emile Bernard's Emile Bernard Divertissement, Arthur Bird's Suite and Salomon Jadassohn's Salomon Jadassohn Serenade, to name a few. In the 20th cenutry the Decet/dixtuor in D, opus 14 by George Enescu 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. |
| Key: vln - violin; vla - viola; vc - cello; cb - double bass; pno - piano; fl - flute; ob - oboe; Eng hrn - English horn; cl - clarinet; s. sax - soprano saxophone; a. sax - alto saxophone; t. sax - tenor saxophone; b. sax - baritone saxophone; bsn - bassoon; hrn - horn; tr - trumpet; trm - trombone |
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.
References
External links
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