A string quintet is an ensemble of five string instrument players or a piece written for such a combination. The most common combinations in classical music are two violins, two violas and cello or two violins, viola and two cellos. The second cello is occasionally replaced by a double bass, as in Antonin Dvorak's quintet Op.77. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart pioneered writing for a string quartet augmented by a second viola, and one outstanding masterpiece for the two-cello quintet is Franz Schubert's Quintet in C major. Closely related chamber music genres include the string trio, the string quartet, and the string sextet. A string inyustrument (also stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ... The viola is a stringed musical instrument which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double bass. ... A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human (Uncropped Version) The violoncello, or as it is more commonly to refered to as the cello or cello (pronounced Cheh-loh), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák  listen (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer of classical music. ... W. A. Mozart, 1790 portrait by Johann Georg Edlinger Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and popular composers of European classical music. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... A quintet is a formation containing exactly five members. ... Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828), was an Austrian composer. ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... In classical music, a string sextet is a composition written for six string instruments, or a group of six musicians who perform such a composition. ...

By convention, the string quintet with an extra viola is called a "viola quintet" and a string quintet with an extra cello is called a "cello quintet." While a naïve concert-goer might expect five violas on the stage when a "viola quintet" appears on a chamber music program, such a quintet would most likely be called a "quintet for five violas."

String quintets have been written by many composers, as can be seen from the following list. It is interesting to note that some composers who wrote well-known series of string quartets, such as Joseph Haydn, Bela Bartok, Paul Hindemith, and Dmitri Shostakovich, never composed a string quintet. Franz Joseph Haydn, (March 31 or April 1, 1732 – May 31, 1809) was a leading composer of the Classical period, called the Father of the Symphony and Father of the String Quartet. Although he has come to be popularly known as Franz Joseph Haydn (with many published scores and recordings... B la Bart k (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. ... Paul Hindemith (November 16, 1895 – December 28, 1963) was a German composer, violist, teacher, theorist and conductor. ... Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich   listen? (Russian: , Dmitrij Dmitrievič Å ostakovič) (September 25, 1906 – August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ...

The term string quintet can also refer to the standard orchestral string section consisting of two violin, one viola, one cello, and one bass part, even though in this case there are multiple musicians playing each part.

List of string quintet composers

• Arnold Bax - one Cello Quintet in G major (1908), whose second movement was rescored by the composer for Viola Quintet and published as the Lyrical Interlude (1923)
• Ludwig van Beethoven - one original work for Viola Quintet, Op.29, sometimes called the Storm Quintet; an arrangement of his Wind Octet for Viola Quintet, Op.4 (the original Octet was later published as Op.103); an arrangement of his Piano Trio Op.1 No.3 for Viola Quintet, Op.104
• Luigi Boccherini - one hundred ten Cello Quintets, twelve original Viola Quintets, arrangements of all twelve of his Piano Quintets (Op.56 and Op.57) for Viola Quintet, and three Double Bass Quintets. The third movement Minuet of the Cello Quintet Op.11 No.5 is extremely well-known.
• Alexander Borodin - one Cello Quintet
• Johannes Brahms - two Viola Quintets, Op.88 and Op.111; the Clarinet Quintet Op.115 may be performed with a viola substituting for the clarinet
• Max Bruch - one Viola Quintet in A minor
• Anton Bruckner - one Viola Quintet (1879)
• Luigi Cherubini - one Viola Quintet in E minor (1837)
• Felix Draeseke - one Quintet in A for Two Violins, Viola, Violotta, and Cello (the Stelzner-Quintett; 1897) ; one Cello Quintet in F (1901)
• Antonin Dvorak - two Viola Quintets, Op.1 and Op.97 (the American Quintet), and a Double Bass Quintet Op.77
• Alexander Glazunov - one Cello Quintet, Op.39
• Karl Goldmark - one Cello Quintet, Op.9 (1862)
• Bohuslav Martinu - one Viola Quintet (1927)
• Felix Mendelssohn - two Viola Quintets: No. 1 in A major, Op.18 (1826, revised 1832) and No. 2 in B-flat major, Op.87 (1845)
• Darius Milhaud - one Double Bass Quintet Op.316; one Viola Quintet Op.325; one Cello Quintet Op.350
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - six Viola Quintets: K174, K516b, K515, K516, K593, K614
• Carl Nielsen - one Viola Quintet (1888)
• Ottorino Respighi - one Viola Quintet (1901)
• Franz Schubert - one Cello Quintet, Op.post.163, D956, and a "Quintet-Overture" for Viola Quintet, D8
• Ethel Smyth - one Cello Quintet in E major, Op.1
• Louis Spohr - seven Viola Quintets
• Ralph Vaughan Williams - one Viola Quintet (the Phantasy Quintet;1912)