What is a string quartet?
A string quartet is a musical ensemble made up of two violins, viola, and cello. The string quartet began to come into prominence in the late 1700’s, and was popularized by the composer Franz Joseph Hayden. Many other composers after him, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikowsky, Bartok, Shostakovitch , and others continued to write for this form, and it remains a popular type of ensemble to this day. In the last few decades, groups such as the Kronos String Quartet and the Turtle Island String Quartet have expanded the quartet repertoire to include jazz, rock, pop, and African and other world musics as well as modernist classical works.
