A clarinet quintet is a piece of music for clarinet and string quartet. Two violins, a viola, and a cello would make up the string quartet. Rather than treating the clarinet as a solo instrument, the composer would normally aim to combine and blend the sounds of the instruments, as is customary in chamber music. Clarinet quintets were composed by a variety of composers, but those by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms dominated clarinetists’ repertoires well into the early twenty-first century.
Mozart’s clarinet quintet was the first notable work in this genre, and it is widely regarded as one of the best clarinet works ever written. The clarinet is not a solo instrument in this quintet, but rather a member of the ensemble. This reflects Mozart’s attitude towards the instrument. Mozart realized that the instrument’s smooth sound made it ideal for use with stringed instruments. The instrument was not present in all orchestras at Mozart’s time, but he became acquainted with its sound during his travels.
The clarinet has a warmer sound when compared to other woodwind instruments. When used in passages that quickly rise to a crescendo, the instrument has a smoother, less reedy sound than the oboe and is more agile than other wind instruments. As a result, it is thought to be an excellent wind instrument for use in a quintet with a string quartet.
Carl Maria von Weber’s clarinet quintet, written in 1815, is notable for treating the clarinet as a solo instrument, with the strings serving more as an accompaniment, as they would in a clarinet concerto. This was not the standard way of composing chamber music at the time. Weber was an operatic composer, which could explain his desire to write a clarinet part that sounds like a singer performing an aria.
The work composed by Brahms in 1891 was the most famous example of a clarinet quintet later in the nineteenth century. Brahms’ main inspiration for this quintet was Mozart’s earlier work, because few composers had written clarinet pieces in this form since Mozart’s quintet. Brahms’ mature work, written after he had retired from composing, is often described as having an autumnal mood. The clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, who played the clarinet in the first private performance of the work, was the inspiration for Brahms in turning to a composition in the form of a clarinet quintet.