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