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Scan 29
Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908
23 lines. Read by computer on 6 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 9. See the scan on archive.org.
1was formerly the clef of the 'Haute Contre' or alto viol. (See Tenor Viol.)—Agricola (Martinus), Musica Instrumentalis; Praetorius, Organographia; Rousseau (J. J.), Dictionnaire de Musique; La Borde, Essai sur la Musique; Grillet (Laurent), Ancêtres du Violon; Hart, The Violin.
2E. H-A.
3QUINTET (Fr. Quintuor; Ital. Quintetto). A composition for five instruments or voices with or without accompaniment.
4I. Quintets for strings have been far less often written than quartets, owing to the greater complexity demanded in the polyphony. Boccherini, however, published 125, of which twelve only were written for two violins, two violas, and one violoncello, the others having two violoncellos and one viola. The former is the more usual choice of instruments, probably because the lower parts are apt to be too heavy sounding with two violoncellos, owing to the greater body of tone in this instrument. Schubert's noble Quintet in C (op. 163) is for two violoncellos, but the first is used constantly in its upper octave, soaring above the viola. Onslow's—thirty-four in number—are for a double bass and violoncello.
5Beethoven's two Quintets, in Eb and C, belong to his earlier periods, and have therefore none of the extraordinary features of the later quartets. Mendelssohn's Quintet in Bb (op. 87) is so orchestral as to seem almost a symphony in disguise, but that in A (op. 18) is an exquisite specimen of what a string quintet should be.
6Many other combinations of five instruments have found favour with musicians, mostly including a pianoforte. Thus there is Mozart's Quintet in Eb for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano—which the composer esteemed the best thing he ever wrote,—the beautiful one for clarinet and strings, and another for the piquant combination of flute, oboe, viola, violoncello, and harmonica. Perhaps the most effective association is that of piano, violin, viola, violoncello, and double bass, as in Schubert's well-known 'Trout' Quintet (op. 114). [The splendid quintets of Schumann and Brahms for piano and strings are for the ordinary combination above referred to, as are also those of Dvořák, Dohnányi, and others. The quintet by Brahms for clarinet and strings is one of his most beautiful works.] Beethoven's quintet for piano and wind instruments (op. 16), in Eb is a noble representative of a very small class. Hummel has also written a well-known one.
7II. In vocal music none who have ever heard it can forget the admirable quintet (for two sopranis, contralto, tenor, and bass) which forms the finale to Act 1 of Spohr's 'Azor and Zemira.' In modern opera the most striking specimen occurs in Wagner's 'Meistersinger.' Five-part harmony has a peculiarly rich effect, and deserves to be more practised than it is, especially in oratorio chorus. It is, however, by no means easy to write naturally.
8F. C.
9QUINTON [See Viol, Treble].
10QUINTOYER (Old Eng. Quinible). To sing in Fifths—a French verb, in frequent use among extempore Organisers during the Middle Ages. [See Organum, Part-Writing.] W. S. R.
11QUINTUPLE TIME. The rhythm of five beats in a bar. As a rule quintuple time has two accents, one on the first beat of the bar, and the other on either the third or fourth, the bar being thus divided into two unequal parts. On this account it can scarcely be considered a distinct species of rhythm, but rather a compound of two ordinary kinds, duple and triple, employed alternately. Although of little practical value, quintuple time produces an effect sufficiently characteristic and interesting to have induced various composers to make experiments therein, the earliest attempt of any importance being a symphony in the second act of Handel's 'Orlando' (1732), in which the hero's perturbation is represented by this peculiar time (see Burney, History, iv. 364). The same rhythm occurs in an air to the words 'Se la sorte mi condanna' in the opera of 'Ariadne' by Adolfati, written in 1750, and it is also met in some of the national airs of Spain, Greece, Germany, etc. Thus Reicha, in a note to No. 20 of his set of 36 fugues (each of which embodies some curious experiment in either tonality or rhythm), states that in a certain district of the Lower Rhine, named Kochersberg, the airs of most of the dances have a well-marked rhythm of five beats, and he gives as an example the following waltz:—
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16In the above example the second accent falls on the third beat, the rhythm being that of 2–8 followed by 3–8, and the same order is observed in a charming movement by Hiller, from the Trio, op. 64.
17In Reicha's fugue above referred to, the reverse is the case, the fourth beat receiving the accent, as is shown by the composer's own time-signature, as well as by his explicit directions as to performance. The following is the subject:—
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20 one of two readings
22Other instances of quintuple rhythm are to be found in a Trio for strings by K. J. Bischoff, for which a prize was awarded by the Deutsche Tonhalle in 1853; in Chopin's Sonata in C minor, op. 4; in Hiller's 'Rhythmische Studien,' op. 52; in 'Viens, gentille Dame'; in Boieldieu's 'La Dame blanche'; Löwe's Ballad 'Prinz Eugen'; a number in Rubinstein's 'Tower of Babel,' etc. Another characteristic example
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