A brass quintet is a five-piece musical ensemble composed of brass instruments. The instrumentation for a brass quintet typically includes two trumpets or cornets, one French horn, one trombone or euphonium/baritone horn, and one tuba or bass trombone. Musicians in a brass quintet may often play multiple instruments. Trumpet players for instance may double on piccolo trumpets and flugelhorns. There can be variation in instrumentation depending on the type of quintet. In some quintets, the horn is replaced by an additional trombone. Euphonium may also be substituted for the trombone part. While the tuba is considered a standard, the range and style of many pieces lend themselves to being played with bass trombone as the lowest-pitched instrument. Additionally, some pieces call for the use of percussion instruments, particularly the snare drum, tambourine, or timpani. History The earliest brass chamber music was written in the mid to late 1800s and coincided with the invention of brass instruments that could play chromatically. The Distin family formed one of the first brass quintets in 1833, touring Europe and the United States to promote a new family of brass instruments called saxhorns. French composer Jean-François Bellon and Russian composer Victor Ewald, led the development of brass chamber music in Paris and Russia during this period. Bellon published the first series of twelve brass quintets in 1850 while Ewald composed his quintets between the years 1888 and 1912 all while improvements were being made to brass instruments. The improvement of brass instruments played a big role later on in the history of brass quintets as it allowed the player to do more with the instrument which in turn allowed for more artistry. The modern brass quintet has only been around for six decades as prior to World War II, there were only a select number of pieces written for brass quintet. The brass quintet is believed to have not been established as a formal chamber ensemble until 1947. This is known as there had to have been compositions for brass chamber, as well as the existence of amateur and professional groups.The instrumentation for brass ensembles would have also needed to “remain constant for a sustained period of time before 1947.” Prior to 1947, many composers began composing for the modern day brass quintet instrumentation that was later established by the New York Brass Quintet. Brass quintets in the United States of America The contemporary brass