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

Gehry wanted to turn BP Hall, where preconcert talks occur, into a small chamber music hall with a suspended balcony.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

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

They move freely, obscuring borderlines between categories that once loomed like separate land masses: jazz and chamber music; acoustic and electric ensembles; songs and improvised forms.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026

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

From BBC • Aug. 20, 2024

I even get to perform a little chamber music.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper