string quartet

American  

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.

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string quartet British  

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

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string quartet Cultural  

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.

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Etymology

Origin of string quartet

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

The score is a tone poem for cascading piano, string quartet and sighing clarinet lines.

From Los Angeles Times

Brahms wasn’t the first to juice up the string quartet with a second violin.

From Los Angeles Times

So we toured a few museum galleries and, on the way out, noticed that a string quartet would be performing shortly in the museum’s auditorium.

From Los Angeles Times

In his last months, Mr. Johnson completed a final composition: a wholly acoustic work for string quartet and mezzo-soprano.

From New York Times

Clyne’s complex, melodic score, with its echoes of several Beethoven string quartets and shimmers of sound, offers a similar juxtaposition of the known and unknown, fragments of history meeting a present-tense moment.

From New York Times