quintet (Fr. quintette, quintuor; Ger. Quintett; It. quintetto). Comp. for 5 instr. or vv., or the singers or players who perform such comps. In vocal music usually 2 sop., alto, ten., and bass (there are many 5-part madrigals). A str. quintet is usually 2 vns., 2 va., and vc., but sometimes (as in most of quintets by Boccherini and in those by Schubert and Vaughan Williams) for 2 vns., va., and 2 vc. A pf. quintet is usually for pf., 2 vns., va., vc., but note that Schubert's ‘Trout’ Quintet is for pf., vn., va., vc., db. There are also cl. quintets, ob. quintets, etc. The customary wind quintet is for fl., ob., hn., cl., bn., but Elgar's wind quintets are for 2 fl., ob., cl., bn. There are also operatic quintets, the most famous occurring in Act 3 of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Quintet ★★ 1979

Atypical Altman scifi effort. The stakes in “Quintet,” a form of backgammon, are high—you bet your life. Set during the planet's final ice age. Newman and wife Fossey wander into a dying city and are invited to play the game, with Fossey losing quickly. Bizarre and pretentious, with heavy symbolic going. 118m/C VHS, DVD . Paul Newman, Bibi Andersson, Fernando Rey, Vittorio Gassman, David Langton, Nina Van Pallandt, Brigitte Fossey; D: Robert Altman; W: Lionel Chetwynd, Patricia Resnick, Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt.

quin·tet / kwinˈtet/ • n. a group of five people playing music or singing together. ∎  a musical composition for such a group. ∎  any group of five people or things: a novel about a quintet of interrelated lovers.