The String Quintet for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Violoncello is a well-structured three-movement composition (Allegro con brio, Largo, Allegretto) with a classical structure, an introductory sonata form (in D minor) and an interestingly conceived final movement: the main theme is stylized in the form of a polka, but at the same time polyphonically arranged. Imitative passages then transition into a five-part fugue exposition.
Martinů composed the quintet between September 27 and October 5, 1927, in Polička. He wanted to dedicate the composition to the influential American patron Elizabeth Sprague-Coolidge, founder of the music foundation at the Library of Congress in Washington. He succeeded. The immediate result of this step was that he found himself "among the chosen ones" – and his composition was included in the program of a festival organized by the patron in Pittsfield the following year. The composition was first performed there.
Jaroslav Mihule, Martinů: Osud skladatele, Prague: Karolinum, 2002, p. 150–152.