Gaetano Brunetti (1744-1798)
Six Quintets for two Violins, Viola, Bassoon and Cello Op. II
Brunetti follows the concertante fashion of those years which featured virtuosic solo passages in alternation with various instruments. To this he adds a predilection for original instrumental combinations the most particular of which are found in the quintets with two violas and, above all, the quintets for two violins, viola, cello and bassoon, op. 2. An ensemble of strings and bassoon was certainly unusual albeit not completely unheard of, if one considers that in those same years or shortly thereafter, Franz Ignaz Danzi and François Devienne composed collections of quartets with bassoon (i.e., violin, viola, cello and bassoon). Without a doubt, though, the fact that Brunetti dedicated an entire collection to these forces denotes the presence of an excellent bassoonist at one of the courts frequented by the composer