# Quintuple Meter



## Dmorelli (Jan 27, 2020)

Hello all. I am a new listener of classical music. I am somewhat obsessed with 5/4 or Quituple meter. What would you suggest listening to in 5/4?


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Dmorelli said:


> Hello all. I am a new listener of classical music. I am somewhat obsessed with 5/4 or Quituple meter. What would you suggest listening to in 5/4?


Welcome to the wondrous world of classical music! You're beginning an amazing lifelong adventure of joy and discovery. Tchaikovsky used 5/4 meter very effectively in the second movement of his 6th Symphony to produce what he called a "limping waltz"- try counting out the beats as you listen and you'll find that the traditional waltz pattern seems to hop along with a broken leg. It's almost unsettling, really. The other famous example is "Mars" from Holst's Planets, with that pervading rhythmic ostinato. Chopin's obscure 1st Piano Sonata also uses quintuple meter in the third movement.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Dmorelli said:


> Hello all. I am a new listener of classical music. I am somewhat obsessed with 5/4 or Quituple meter. What would you suggest listening to in 5/4?


How did you get obsessed with 5/4, in what relation I mean?


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Dmorelli said:


> Hello all. I am a new listener of classical music. I am somewhat obsessed with 5/4 or Quituple meter. What would you suggest listening to in 5/4?


Rachmaninoff's 'Isle of the dead' begins and ends in 5/8.

It's worth noting how he switches the accent - firstly 2 quavers followed by 3 - then 3 followed by 2 and back again.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> How did you get obsessed with 5/4, in what relation I mean?


Don't know about Dmorelli, but anyone growing up with prog rock, fusion jazz, and the like lives, breathes and likely improvises in quintuple and septuple meter.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Give the second movement of Borodin's 3rd Symphony a listen.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

The Agnus Dei in Britten's War requiem is in 5/16. A lot of the first mvt. of Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony is in 5/4 and the dance section in Holst's Hymn of Jesus is 5/4. Also the 'Adonai' in Bernstein's Chichester Psalms


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Its not barred in 5, but the rhythm for the most part is






odd meters most often are patterns of 2 and 3 beats.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

5/8 - mvt III of Barber Piano Cto..fast...


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## Minneapple (Jan 14, 2020)

The finale of Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto. It's pretty exciting...


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

EdwardBast said:


> Don't know about Dmorelli, but anyone growing up with prog rock, fusion jazz, and the like lives, breathes and likely improvises in quintuple and septuple meter.


Precise, that's why my specific question.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Dave Brubeck- "Take Five"


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

EdwardBast said:


> ...anyone growing up with prog rock, fusion jazz, and the like lives, breathes and likely improvises in quintuple and septuple meter.


Here's a nice example of quintuple meter in straight-ahead modern jazz, featuring two fine horn players (Sonny Fortune and Woody Shaw).






Also, in prog-rock, the instrumental opening section of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's _Tarkus_.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Hate to be that guy, but Wikipedia has a nice example-heavy article about it, covering most of the examples (all of the famous ones) that I could think of, both in classical and non-classical music.


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