Carl Maria von Weber was born near Lubeck. The "von" was an affectation; his family was not really aristocracy. His mother was a singer and his father, who was Kapellmeister for a prince bishop and then director of a travelling theatre company, determined that Carl should be a musical prodigy like Mozart, so young Weber's youth was spent on tour. At age four he could not yet walk properly because of a congenital disease of the hip, but he could already sing and play the piano. Most of Weber's handful of chamber works involve his own instrument, the piano; the Clarinet Quintet is the one exception.

The strings begin the first movement with a quiet eight-bar phrase. Half-way through the repeat of this the clarinet steals in, after which it is scarcely out of the limelight with its jaunty themes and agile passage-work. The Fantasia is in the style of a florid operatic aria, with wide leaps for the clarinet over virtually its entire range. The third movement is a minuet in name only, full of teasing cross-rhythms and rapid exchanges between the clarinet and the strings, with a delightfully casual ending that Haydn would have enjoyed. The finale throws caution to the wind as it scampers along in a gallop rhythm.

In September 1880, at the same time as he was working on the 1812 Festival Overture, Tchaikovsky decided to write an orchestral serenade that would serve as an homage to Mozart's own serenades. Though it does not sound precisely like Mozart, Tchaikovsky intended his work to be classical in form and spirit, especially in the stately opening theme of the first movement, recapitulated at the close of the final movement.

The first movement, Pezzo in forma di Sonatina, moves from the measured Andante introduction to a simple four-note theme in the Allegro that develops into vigorous scale passages. Yet this section, though brisk, is never forced or rushed: the brilliant passages simply complement the lilting movement of the Allegro theme.

The Valse of the second movement is Tchaikovsky's answer to the minuets of Mozart's serenades. Each string section takes a turn carrying the dancing melody in counterpart to rhythmic lines from other sections. The movement ends in a gentle pianissimo, leading to the quietly stated Elegie.

Like the previous two movements, the Elegie is built on a scale passage, this one rising in quietly building fervour. The lower strings carry a good portion of the songlike melody which, though called an elegy, is more reflective than truly sombre.

The Finale is subtitled Temo Russo and includes two Russian folk tunes. The first, a slow tune sung by Volga draymen, appears in the Andante introduction. The second is an animated Russian dance with some quick balalaika-like pizzicato in octaves. Contrasted with this second theme is a third lyrical motif that provides a broadly sweeping movement against the vivacious dance. The theme from the first movement's Andante makes its reappearance, then Tchaikovsky cleverly transforms the descending portion of this stately theme into the pulsing, descending scale of the dance, ending the piece with vigour.