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In music, a nonet is a composition which requires nine musicians for a performance, or a musical group that consists of nine people. Unlike some other musical ensembles such as the string quartet, there is no established or standard set of instruments in a nonet. Composers of nonets often mix stringed instruments with winds, or woodwinds with brass, choosing the instruments so that each subgroup can form complete four-part harmony.
Classical nonets
Franz Schubert's Eine kleine Trauermusik (1812) is a nonet written for two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two horns, and two trombones, while Louis Spohr's Nonet in F-major (1813) and contemporary George Onslow's op. 77 (1846), are for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. Other well-known nonets in the Spohr-Onslow instrumentation are Joseph Rheinberger's op. 139 in E-flat (1884) and another written by Franz Lachner in F-minor (1875).
A later example is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's 1894 work, also in F-minor, for an ensemble with a piano replacing the flute.
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Bohuslav Martinů, and Alois Hába are among the twentieth-century composers who have written nonets, with Hába accounting for four (opp. 40, 42, 82, and 97).
Jazz nonets
Trumpeter Miles Davis formed a jazz group known as the "Miles Davis Nonet" in 1948. The group later recorded a number of tracks for Capitol Records that became the album Birth of the Cool. The lineup consisted of four brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, French horn, and tuba), two woodwinds (alto and baritone saxophone), and a rhythm section (piano, upright bass, and drums).
See also
