Home
String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5 (Boccherini)
The String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275), by Luigi Boccherini was written in 1771 and published in 1775. It is one of his most popular works. The quintet is famous for its minuet third movement, often referred to as "The Celebrated Minuet", which is most-often played as a standalone piece outside of the context of the full quintet.
MinuetThe third movement of the quintet is notably the most famous, and is the most often performed of all the movements. It is in 3/4 time, and is occasionally referred to as the “Celebrated Minuet”. It departs from the original key of E Major and becomes A Major.
In the beginning of the movement, the first violin plays a simple, elegant melody, while the viola and celli have eighth note pizzicato. The second violin, on the other hand, has quick sixteenth note slurs which contain many string crossings. As Elisabeth Le Guin puts it in Boccherini’s Body: An Essay in Carnal Musicology, “The second violinist has no time for galanterie; he must concentrate on keeping the constant string crossings reasonable even through the length of the bow”.
Other uses
The minuet has been used extensively in movies, television, and video games, among others. Notable is its usage in the film The Ladykillers, which is one of the reasons that the piece has become so popular.
Arrangements of the minuet are also used in the Suzuki Method for violin, viola, and cello, which made the piece well known among beginner string players.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5 (Boccherini).