A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Octet

by George Grove

OCTET, or OTTETT (Ottetto), a composition for eight solo instruments. It differs from a double quartet, such as those of Spohr, as that master explains in his Autobiography (ii. 153); the eight instruments working together independently, and not in two bodies just as in the case of a composition for eight voices compared with one for two choirs or double chorus. Mendelssohn's Octet for strings is a splendid example. [See Mendelssohn, 258b.] So is Schubert's, for 2 violins, viola, cello, contrabass, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. Gade and Svendsen have each written one for strings. Beethoven's 'Grand Octuor' (op. 103), originally entitled 'Parthia in Es,' is an arrangement of his early String Quintet (op. 4), for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, and 2 bassoons.

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