chamber music

American  

noun

1. music suited for performance in a room or a small concert hall, especially for two or more, but usually fewer than ten, solo instruments.

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chamber music British  

noun

1. music for performance by a small group of instrumentalists

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chamber music Cultural  

1. Music for two or more instruments in which only one musician plays each part. Chamber music is distinguished from music for orchestra, in which, for example, more than a dozen violinists may be playing the same notes. The most familiar kind of chamber music is the string quartet.

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Etymology

Origin of chamber music

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

He graduated in piano and chamber music in 1951, and later in composition, before pursuing his studies in Paris for a year.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

The Modern Jazz Quartet remade “Summertime” as elegant chamber music, weaving piano and vibraphone in transparent counterpoint.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

These two inner voices of the quartet have been crucial to more than 1,000 new pieces, which have changed chamber music the world over.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2024

For Clean Bandit, their signature sound is a simple, but effective, mixture of chamber music and dance beats.

From BBC • Aug. 20, 2024

They just lie there and groove, but after a while they start hearing—you won’t believe this—they hear chamber music.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien