Wind Quintet

work by Schoenberg

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

July 15, 2026

Quick Summary

The Wind Quintet is a musical composition for five instruments or voices, or a group of five musicians performing such a composition. The standard instrumentation for a wind quintet includes a flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn.1

This particular work is by the composer Arnold Schoenberg, who is credited with inventing the 12-tone method of composition. This technique, developed around World War I, uses all 12 tones of the chromatic scale in a specific order, known as a 12-tone row or series, to provide a new basis for musical structure, replacing traditional tonality where no single note predominates. The basic set for Schoenberg's Wind Quintet (1924) is E♭–G–A–B–C♯–C–B♭–D–E–F♯–A♭–F.2

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

6 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

12-tone music
The basic set for Schoenberg’s Wind Quintet (1924) is E♭–G–A–B–C♯–C–B♭–D–E–F♯–A♭–F; for his String Quartet No. 4 (1936) it is D–C♯–A–B♭–F–E♭–E–C–A♭–G–F♯–B.
Read More
The basic set for Schoenberg’s Wind Quintet (1924) is E♭–G–A–B–C♯–C–B♭–D–E–F♯–A♭–F; for his String Quartet No. 4 (1936) it is D–C♯–A–B♭–F–E♭–E–C–A♭–G–F♯–B.
Read More