Luigi Boccherini was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music is often characterized by a courtly and galante style. At age 25 he moved to Madrid, entering into the services of Infante Luis Antonio of Spain. There, Boccherini flourished under royal patronage, until one day when the King expressed his disapproval at a passage in a new trio, and ordered Boccherini to change it. The composer, no doubt irritated with this intrusion, doubled the passage instead, which led to his immediate dismissal. He then moved to a little town in the Gredos Mountains in Ávila where he went on to write many of his most famous works.

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The String Quintet in E Major, written in 1771, is famous for its minuet third movement, which is frequently played as a standalone piece outside of the context of the full quintet. This string quintet is a "cello quintet," meaning it's scored for a string quartet with a second cello as the fifth instrument. At the time of this composition, Boccherini had been writing string quartets for about ten years, primarily for the Font String Quartet. An accomplished cellist himself, the composer often joined the group as a performer, which prompted him to add an additional cello part to this piece.