A string quintet is an ensemble of five string instrument players or a piece written for such a combination. The most common combinations in classical music are two violins, two violas and cello or two violins, viola and two cellos. The second cello is occasionally replaced by a double bass, as in Antonín Dvořák's quintet Op.77.

The String Quintet in C major, D. 956, op. posth. 163, is a piece of chamber music written by Franz Schubert. It was composed shortly after his Ninth Symphony during the summer of 1828, two months before his death. The Quintet was first performed in 1850 and published in 1853.