String Quartet

Two violins, viola and cello in four equal voices, the most intimate form of chamber music.

Related

ClassicalString QuartetViolinCello

A string quartet uses two violins, viola and cello so that four voices can converse as equals.

Origins and era

In the mid-eighteenth century the quartet separated from the divertimento and the trio sonata. Haydn wrote Op.9, Op.17 and Op.20 in the 1770s and fixed the four-movement design. Mozart dedicated six quartets to Haydn, and Beethoven moved from Op.18 to Op.135, pushing the genre toward introspection and experiment. Schubert, Brahms and Dvorak continued it, and Bartok and Shostakovich gave it modern experience.

What you hear

All four instruments are solo voices and there is no conductor. Themes pass between the parts, while viola and cello often carry inner lines and bass. The blend is homogeneous, yet each entry can be heard. The usual plan is a fast movement, a slow movement, a scherzo and a finale, with a singing slow movement.

Key figures

Haydn is called the father of the string quartet, Mozart balanced the four voices, and Beethoven turned conversation into drama. Schubert made the writing lyrical, Brahms added density, Bartok used folk rhythm and bowing, and Shostakovich left fifteen quartets.

Lineage

Trio sonatas, divertimenti and the Classical sonata feed in; modern chamber music, quartet festivals and pop or jazz arrangements come out.

Common misunderstandings

A string quartet is not a small string orchestra, since the four parts remain independent. It is not a reduced symphony, because the voices are equal. Four movements are not a law, and single-movement and multi-movement works both exist.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry String quartet（Oxford University Press），用于核对体裁定义与曲目
• The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, edited by Robin Stowell（Cambridge University Press, 2003），用于核对四重奏的历史与演奏

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.