Very popular in the 18^th century, the harp also inspired composers of the last century who often associated it with strings. As for Beethoven, he used it only once, reserving a magnificent solo for it in his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. Jacques Ibert wrote his Trio for violin, cello and harp following an exchange of cigarettes (very rare in France in 1944) with his daughter, an excellent harpist. It represents a welcome oasis of peace in this time of noise and fury. With an extraordinary and anachronistic prolixity, the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, a great friend of France where he studied and where he often stayed, wrote for all sorts of rare instrumental combinations, such as this splendid Instrumental Quintet. The latter was composed in 1957 in a style that owes nothing to folklore and everything to the French spirit that he loved so much. Es ist Dreck! [it's dirt] Beethoven said of his String Quartet. Unfair and unfriendly judgment for a work in which the young composer is on the contrary in full control of his first way.