string quartet

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noun

a musical composition, usually in three or four movements, for four stringed instruments, typically two violins, viola, and cello.

a first violinist, second violinist, violist, and cellist forming a group for the performance of string quartets and similar music.

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In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of string quartet

First recorded in 1870–75

Words nearby string quartet

string line, string orchestra, string out, stringpiece, string player, string quartet, strings, strings attached, string theory, string tie, string together

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use string quartet in a sentence

A few days later, one of these AI-generated scores was played by a string quartet in a news conference.
An AI finished Beethoven’s final symphony. But is it good?|Ahmed Elgammal/The Conversation|September 26, 2021|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.
The debate over Bridgerton and race|Aja Romano|January 7, 2021|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.
The astounding brilliance and abiding joy of Mozart|Tim Page|December 18, 2020|Washington Post
One spring night four years ago my fiancée and I were at Carnegie Hall, listening to the Emerson String Quartet play Beethoven.
Encounters With Thomas Pynchon|Nick Romeo|October 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST

He had composed a string quartet in B major, and an overture in F major.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky|Modeste Tchaikovsky
A beautiful string quartet by him has won its way in many German towns.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky|Modeste Tchaikovsky
It suited his taste to have the first string quartet of Europe in his service.
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume II (of 3)|Alexander Wheelock Thayer
This was emphatically the case with the sonata, the symphony and the string quartet.
Haydn|J. Cuthbert Hadden
He also organised a string quartet, and was considered a most excellent performer of chamber-music.
Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday|Henry C. Lahee

British Dictionary definitions for string quartet

string quartet

noun music

an instrumental ensemble consisting of two violins, one viola, and one cello

a piece of music written for such a group, usually having the form and commonest features of a sonata

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for string quartet

string quartet

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.