string quartet

noun

1. a musical composition, usually in three or four movements, for four stringed instruments, typically two violins, viola, and cello.
2. a first violinist, second violinist, violist, and cellist forming a group for the performance of string quartets and similar music.

string quartet

noun

1. an instrumental ensemble consisting of two violins, one viola, and one cello
2. a piece of music written for such a group, usually having the form and commonest features of a sonata

string quartet

1. A musical group that includes two violins , a viola , and a cello . The term also refers to a composition written for these four instruments. Many composers, notably Franz Josef Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , and Ludwig van Beethoven , have written string quartets.

Word History and Origins

Origin of string quartet¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

A few days later, one of these AI-generated scores was played by a string quartet in a news conference.

From Popular-Science

The show conveys this deliberately skewed fantasy early on, through motifs like string quartets playing Ariana Grande covers instead of period waltzes, and the use of a Gossip Girl-esque scandal sheet narrator, Julie Andrews.

From Vox

Before he was 30, he had perfected the string quartet, dedicating some of these compositions to his mentor Franz Joseph Haydn, who recognized that the young man had already surpassed him.

From Washington Post

One spring night four years ago my fiancée and I were at Carnegie Hall, listening to the Emerson String Quartet play Beethoven.

From The Daily Beast

He had composed a string quartet in B major, and an overture in F major.

From Project Gutenberg

A beautiful string quartet by him has won its way in many German towns.

From Project Gutenberg

It suited his taste to have the first string quartet of Europe in his service.

From Project Gutenberg

This was emphatically the case with the sonata, the symphony and the string quartet.

From Project Gutenberg

He also organised a string quartet, and was considered a most excellent performer of chamber-music.

From Project Gutenberg