A string quintet is an ensemble of five players - the most common combinations are 2 violins, 2 violas and cello or 2 violins, viola and 2 cellos. The second cello is occasionally replaced by a bass, as in Antonin Dvorak's quintet. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart pioneered writing for a string quartet augmented by a second viola, and one outstanding masterpiece for the 2-cellos quintet is Franz Schubert's Quintet in C major.
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