As with his seven other surviving guitar quintets, Boccherini adapted this work from an earlier composition: the Quintet for piano in E minor, Op. 56/1 (1797). This is the most stylistically advanced of the guitar quintets, more Classical than Rococo, and it allows just a hint of early Romantic intensity of expression in isolated moments of the first movement. That movement, Allegro moderato, falls into conventional sonata-allegro form. As mentioned, Boccherini exploits the minor key for a very few dark and troubling passages, but these and a few agitato outbursts are really exceptions in the course of a movement that is generally even-keeled in emotional effect. Boccherini uses the guitar so subtly that at times it does little more than thicken the sonic texture in what is essentially a string quartet. Similarly, the Adagio begins with a strings-only introduction before the guitar joins in. The guitar eventually becomes the dominant voice in a few passages, but it never takes a truly concertante role. The movement is a pleasant nocturnal serenade, eschewing extremes of technique or emotion. The third movement, Minuetto, begins as a stately but bright dance, then indulges in some rapid violin passagework and dips into the minor mode with the guitar providing a restless undercurrent that carries over to the highly lyrical trio section. The closing Allegretto allows the guitar to introduce the primary theme over string accompaniment, after which all the instruments trade off dominance from one long phrase to another. Boccherini maintains this pattern in the second episode, where florid violin passages are echoed by the guitar. The lower strings become more prominent in the subsequent minor-mode conversation, but only when the guitar recedes or falls completely silent. A repeat of the first section brings the movement and the quintet to a pleasant conclusion.

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