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

Scribner: The string quartet plays from an empty dressing room for most of the show.

From Los Angeles Times

Santa Monica High School’s Chamber Orchestra brought a lovely, lyric sheen to Mahler’s string orchestra arrangement of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” string quartet.

From Los Angeles Times

The instrumental ensemble is but a string quartet.

From Los Angeles Times

But a few days before Christmas, a string quartet hauled its instruments up the hairpin stone pathway, into a Franklin Hills living room for amonthly house-show series.

From Los Angeles Times

We are spoiled with great recordings of the Shostakovich string quartets, so you might wonder why we need yet another set.

From New York Times