String Quintet No. 1 (Brahms)

Johannes Brahms' String Quintet No. 1 in F major, Op. 88, was composed in 1882 in the spa town of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria, and published by the firm of Fritz Simrock. It was first performed at a chamber music evening in Frankfurt on 29 December 1882.

It is a "viola quintet" in that it is scored for string quartet with a second viola. Brahms composed the work in three movements:

1. Allegro non troppo ma con brio
 * In sonata form. The first subject group is in F major, while the second is in A major, the first of the "pervasive mediant relationships" in this work.

2. Grave ed appassionato – Allegretto vivace – Tempo I – Presto – Tempo I
 * In double variation form. The first theme is based on a sarabande Brahms wrote in 1854, while the second theme is based on a gavotte that he wrote in the same year. The movement starts in C♯ major, and ends in A major, another mediant relationship.

3. Allegro energico – Presto
 * In a fusion of sonata and contrapuntal forms. The final key of the previous movement, A major, and the key of this movement, F major, represent another mediant relationship.

Brahms described the quintet to his friend Clara Schumann as "one of [his] finest works" and told Simrock, "You have never before had such a beautiful work from me."