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{{short description|Musical ensemble of four string players}}
[[File:Fitzwilliam Quartet.jpg|thumb|The [[Fitzwilliam Quartet]]|upright=1.3]]
The term '''string quartet''' is a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two [[Violin|violinists]], a [[Viola|violist]], and a [[Cello|cellist]].

The string quartet was developed into its present form by the Austrian composer [[Joseph Haydn]], whose works in the 1750s established the ensemble as a group of four more-or-less equal partners. Since that time, the string quartet has been considered a prestigious form; writing for four instruments with broadly similar characteristics both constrains and tests a composer. String quartet composition flourished in the [[Classical music era|Classical era]], and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] each wrote a number of them. Many [[Romantic era music|Romantic]] and [[20th-century classical music|early-twentieth-century]] composers composed string quartets, including [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]], [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]], [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]], [[Leoš Janáček|Janáček]], and [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]]. There was a slight lull in string quartet composition later in the 19th century, but it received a resurgence in the 20th century, with the [[Second Viennese School]], [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]], [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]], [[Milton Babbitt|Babbitt]], and [[Elliott Carter|Carter]] producing highly regarded examples of the genre, and it remains an important and refined musical form.

The standard structure for a string quartet as established in the Classical era is four [[Movement (music)|movements]], with the first movement in [[sonata form]], allegro, in the [[tonic (music)|tonic]] key; a slow movement in a [[Closely related key|related key]] and a [[minuet and trio]] follow; and the fourth movement is often in [[rondo form]] or [[sonata rondo form]], in the tonic key.

Some string quartet ensembles play together for many years and become established and promoted as an entity in a manner similar to an instrumental soloist or an [[orchestra]].

==History and development==
=== Early history ===
[[File:Tallinn String Quartet in Tel Aviv (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A string quartet in performance. From left to right: violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello]]
The early history of the string quartet is in many ways the history of the development of the genre by the Austrian composer [[Joseph Haydn]]. There had been examples of [[Divertimento|divertimenti]] for two solo violins, viola and cello by the Viennese composers [[Georg Christoph Wagenseil]] and [[Ignaz Holzbauer]]; and there had long been a tradition of performing orchestral works one instrument to a part. The British [[musicologist]] [[David Wyn Jones]] cites the widespread practice of four players, one to a part, playing works written for [[string orchestra]], such as divertimenti and [[serenade]]s, there being no separate (fifth) contrabass part in string scoring before the 19th century.{{sfn|Wyn Jones|2003|loc=179}} However, these composers showed no interest in exploring the development of the string quartet as a medium.{{Refn|[[D'Indy]]'s [https://imslp.org/wiki/Cours_de_Composition_Musicale_(Indy,_Vincent_d%27)#IMSLP880379 ''Cours de Composition Musicale''] (1912) cites the "timides essais" of [[Sammartini]], [[Pieter van Maldere|Van Malder]] & [[François-Joseph Gossec|Gossec]]. (p. 214)}}

The origins of the string quartet can be further traced back to the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] [[trio sonata]], in which two [[solo (music)|solo]] instruments performed with a [[basso continuo|continuo]] section consisting of a [[bass instrument]] (such as the cello) and [[keyboard instrument|keyboard]]. A very early example is a four-part sonata for string ensemble by the Italian composer [[Gregorio Allegri]] that might be considered an important prototype.<ref>[[Arthur Eaglefield Hull]], "The earliest string quartet" ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'' '''15''' (1929:72–76).</ref> By the early 18th century, composers were often adding a third soloist; and moreover it became common to omit the keyboard part, letting the cello support the bass line alone. Thus when [[Alessandro Scarlatti]] wrote a set of six works entitled {{lang|it|Sonata à Quattro per due Violini, Violetta [viola], e Violoncello senza Cembalo}} (Sonata for four instruments: two violins, viola, and cello without harpsichord), this was a natural evolution from the existing tradition.{{sfn|Wyn Jones|2003|loc=178}}

=== Haydn's impact ===
The musicologist [[Hartmut Schick]] has suggested that [[Franz Xaver Richter]] invented the "classical" string quartet around 1757,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schick|first=Hartmut|author-link=Hartmut Schick|date=2009|title=Hat Franz Xaver Richter das Streichquartett erfunden? Überlegungen zum 300. Geburtstag des Komponisten, samt einer Hypothese zu Boccherini|trans-title=Did Franz Xaver Richter invent the string quartet? Reflections on the 300th birthday of the composer, including a theory about Boccherini|journal=[[Archiv für Musikwissenschaft]]|volume=66|number=4|pages=306–320|doi=10.25162/afmw-2009-0016 |language=de|jstor=27764460|url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-epub-17252-0 }}</ref> but the consensus amongst most authorities is that Haydn is responsible for the genre in its currently accepted form. The string quartet enjoyed no recognized status as an ensemble in the way that two violins with basso continuo – the so-called '[[trio sonata]]' – had for more than a hundred years. Even the composition of Haydn's earliest string quartets owed more to chance than artistic imperative.{{sfn|Finscher|2000|loc=398}} 

During the 1750s, when the young composer was still working mainly as a teacher and violinist in Vienna, he would occasionally be invited to spend time at the nearby [[Weinzierl Castle|castle at Weinzierl]] of the music-loving Austrian nobleman Karl Joseph Weber, Edler von Fürnberg. There he would play chamber music in an ''ad hoc'' ensemble consisting of Fürnberg's steward, a priest, and a local cellist, and when the Baron asked for some new music for the group to play, Haydn's first string quartets were born. It is not clear whether any of these works ended up in the two sets published in the mid-1760s and known as Haydn's [[Opus number|Opp.]] 1 and 2 ('Op. 0' is a quartet included in some early editions of Op. 1, and only rediscovered in the 1930s), but it seems reasonable to assume that they were at least similar in character.

Haydn's early biographer [[Georg August Griesinger]] tells the story thus:

<blockquote>The following purely chance circumstance had led him to try his luck at the composition of quartets. A Baron Fürnberg had a place in [[Weinzierl Castle|Weinzierl]], several stages from Vienna, and he invited from time to time his pastor, his manager, Haydn, and Albrechtsberger (a brother of the celebrated [[contrapuntist]] [[Johann Georg Albrechtsberger|Albrechtsberger]]) in order to have a little music. Fürnberg requested Haydn to compose something that could be performed by these four amateurs. Haydn, then eighteen years old{{Sic}},<ref>This would put the date earlier, around 1750; {{harvtxt|Finscher|2000}} as well as {{harvtxt|Webster|Feder|2001}} judge that Griesinger erred here.</ref> took up this proposal, and so originated his first quartet which, immediately it appeared, received such general approval that Haydn took courage to work further in this form.{{sfn|Griesinger|1963|loc=13}}</blockquote>

Haydn went on to write nine other quartets around this time. These works were published as his Op. 1 and Op. 2; one quartet went unpublished, and some of the early "quartets" are actually symphonies missing their wind parts. They have five movements and take the form: fast movement, [[minuet and trio]] I, slow movement, minuet and trio II, and fast [[finale (music)|finale]]. As [[Ludwig Finscher]] notes, they draw stylistically on the Austrian [[divertimento]] tradition.{{sfn|Finscher|2000|loc=398}}

After these early efforts, Haydn did not return to the string quartet for several years, but when he did so, it was to make a significant step in the genre's development. The intervening years saw Haydn begin his employment as [[Kapellmeister]] to the [[Esterházy]] princes, for whom he was required to compose numerous symphonies and dozens of trios for violin, viola, and the bass instrument called the [[baryton]] (played by Prince [[Nikolaus Esterhazy|Nikolaus Esterházy]] himself). The opportunities for experiment which both these genres offered Haydn perhaps helped him in the pursuit of the more advanced quartet style found in the eighteen works published in the early 1770s as Opp. 9, 17, and [[String Quartets, Op. 20 (Haydn)|20]]. These are written in a form that became established as standard both for Haydn and for other composers. Clearly composed as sets, these quartets feature a four-movement layout having broadly conceived, moderately paced first movements and, in increasing measure, a democratic and conversational interplay of parts, close-knit thematic development, and skillful though often restrained use of counterpoint. The convincing realizations of the progressive aims of the Op. 20 set of 1772, in particular, makes them the first major peak in the history of the string quartet.<ref>Lindsay Kemp: Joseph Haydn: The String Quartets, Decca 200.</ref> Certainly they offered to their own time state-of-the art models to follow for the best part of a decade; the teenage [[Mozart]], in his early quartets, was among the composers moved to imitate many of their characteristics, right down to the vital [[fugue]]s with which Haydn sought to bring greater architectural weight to the finales of nos. 2, 5 and 6.

After Op. 20, it becomes harder to point to similar major jumps in the string quartet's development in Haydn's hands, though not due to any lack of invention or application on the composer's part. As [[Donald Tovey]] put it: "with Op. 20 the historical development of Haydn's quartets reaches its goal; and further progress is not progress in any historical sense, but simply the difference between one masterpiece and the next."{{sfn|Tovey|loc={{Page needed|date=January 2017}}}}<!--Is there not a contrary point of view that Op. 33 was even more innovative than Op. 20?-->

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The musicologist Roger Hickman has however dissented from this consensus view. He notes a change in string quartet writing towards the end of the 1760s, featuring characteristics which are today thought of as essential to the genre – scoring for two violins, viola and cello, solo passages, and absence of actual or potential [[basso continuo]] accompaniment. Noting that at this time other composers than Haydn were writing works conforming to these 'modern' criteria, and that Haydn's earlier quartets did not meet them, he suggests that "one casualty [of such a perspective] is the notion that Haydn "invented" the string quartet... Although he may still be considered the 'father' of the 'Classical' string quartet, he is not the creator of the sting quartet genre itself... This old and otiose myth not only misrepresents the achievements of other excellent composers, but also distorts the character and qualities of Haydn's opp. 1, 2 and 9".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hickman|first=Roger|date=1981 |title=The Nascent Viennese String Quartet|jstor=741992|journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]]|volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=211–212 |doi=}}</ref> 

The musicologist [[Cliff Eisen]] contextualizes the Op. 20 quartets as follows: "Haydn's quartets of the late 1760s and early 1770s [opp. 9, 17, and 20] are high points in the early history of the quartet. Characterized by a wide range of textures, frequent asymmetries and theatrical gestures...these quartets established the genre's four-movement form, its larger dimensions, and ...its greater aesthetic pretensions and expressive range."<ref>{{cite book|last=Eisen|first=Cliff|author-link=Cliff Eisen|editor-first=Simon|editor-last=Keefe|editor-link=Simon P. Keefe|date=2009 |title=The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/the-cambridge-history-of-eighteenth-century-music/89CD5DBB0501F1A52B516F320F8A7129 |chapter= The string quartet|location=Cambridge |publisher= Cambridge University Press|page=650|isbn=9781139056038}}</ref>

That Haydn's string quartets were already "classics" that defined the genre by 1801 can be judged by [[Ignaz Pleyel]]'s publication in Paris of a "complete" series that year, and the quartet's evolution as vehicle for public performance can be judged by Pleyel's ten-volume set of [[miniature score]]s intended for hearers rather than players – early examples of this genre of [[Music publisher (popular music)|music publishing]]. Since Haydn's day, the string quartet has been prestigious and considered one of the true tests of a composer's art. This may be partly because the palette of sound is more restricted than with [[orchestra]]l music, forcing the music to stand more on its own rather than relying on [[timbre|tonal color]]; or from the inherently [[counterpoint|contrapuntal]] tendency in music written for four equal instruments.

=== After Haydn ===
Quartet composition flourished in the [[Classical music era|Classical]] era. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] each composed a number of quartets: "Beethoven in particular is credited with developing the genre in an experimental and dynamic fashion, especially in his later series of quartets written in the 1820s up until his death. Their forms and ideas inspired and continue to inspire musicians and composers, such as [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] and [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]]."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=Edmund|title=The Universal Composer|date=2005|publisher=Atlas Books|location=New York|isbn=0-06-075974-7}}{{Page needed|date=May 2017}}</ref> Schubert's last musical wish was to hear Beethoven's [[String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)|Quartet in C{{music|sharp}} minor, Op. 131]], which he heard on 14 November 1828, just five days before his death. Upon listening to an earlier performance of this quartet, Schubert had remarked, "After this, what is left for us to write?" Wagner, when reflecting on Op. 131's first movement, said that it "reveals the most melancholy sentiment expressed in music". Of the [[Late string quartets (Beethoven)|late quartets]], Beethoven cited his own favorite as [[String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)|Op. 131]], which he saw as his most perfect single work.

[[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]]'s [[String Quartets (Mendelssohn)|six string quartets]] span the full range of his career, from 1828 to 1847; [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]'s [[String Quartets (Schumann)|three string quartets]] were all written in 1842 and dedicated to Mendelssohn, whose quartets Schumann had been studying in preparation, along with those of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Several Romantic-era composers wrote only one quartet, while [[Antonín Dvořák#String quartets|Dvořák]] wrote 14.

=== In the 20th century ===
[[File:Schoenberg string quartet exc. quartal chord.png|thumb|String quartet [[musical notation|score]] ([[quartal and quintal harmony|quartal harmony]] from Schoenberg's [[String Quartets (Schoenberg)#String Quartet No. 1, op. 7|String Quartet No. 1]])[[File:Schoenberg string quartet exc. quartal chord.mid]]|upright=1.3]]In the modern era, the string quartet played a key role in the development of [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]] (who added a [[soprano]] in his [[String Quartet No. 2 (Schoenberg)|String Quartet No. 2]]), [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]], and [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]] especially. After the [[Second World War]], some composers, such as [[Olivier Messiaen|Messiaen]] questioned the relevance of the string quartet and avoided writing them.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} However, from the 1960s onwards, many composers have shown a renewed interest in the genre. 

During his tenure as [[Master of the Queen's Music]], [[Peter Maxwell Davies]] produced a set of ten entitled the [[Naxos Quartets]] (to a commission from [[Naxos Records]]) from 2001 to 2007. [[Margaret Jones Wiles]] composed over 50 string quartets. [[David Matthews (composer)|David Matthews]] has written eleven, and [[Robin Holloway]] both five quartets and six "quartettini". Over nearly five decades, [[Elliott Carter]] wrote a total of five string quartets, winning [[Pulitzer Prize for Music|Pulitzer Prizes]] for two of them, [[String Quartet No. 2 (Carter)|No. 2]] and [[String Quartet No. 3 (Carter)|No. 3]]. Three important string quartets were written by [[Helmut Lachenmann]].  The late 20th century also saw the string quartet expand in various ways: Morton Feldman's vast Second String Quartet is one of the longest ever written, and Karlheinz Stockhausen's [[Helikopter-Streichquartett]] is to be performed by the four musicians in four helicopters.
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==String quartets of the classical period==
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2023}}
Quartets written during the [[classical period (music)|classical period]] usually had four movements, with a structure similar to that of a [[symphony]]:

{{Ordered list|type=upper-roman
| A fast movement in [[sonata form]] in the [[tonic (music)|tonic]] key
| A [[Slow movement (music)|slow movement]], in a related key
| A [[minuet]] and [[trio (musical form)|trio]] or (in later works) [[scherzo]] and trio, in the tonic key
| A fast movement, sometimes in [[rondo]] or movement in [[sonata rondo form]], in the tonic key
}}

The positions of the slow movement and third movement are flexible. For example, in Mozart's six [[Haydn Quartets (Mozart)|quartets dedicated to Haydn]], three have a minuet followed by a slow movement and three have the slow movement before the minuet.

Substantial modifications to the typical structure were already present by the time of Beethoven's late quartets, and despite some notable examples to the contrary, composers writing in the twentieth century increasingly abandoned this structure. Bartók's [[String Quartet No. 4 (Bartók)|fourth]] and [[String Quartet No. 5 (Bartók)|fifth]] string quartets, written in the 1930s, are five-movement works, symmetrical around a central movement.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1556/6.2021.00019 | title=The Fourth of the Fourth: On the Genesis and the Early Performances of the Allegretto, pizzicato Movement of Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 4 | date=2022 | last1=Németh | first1=Zsombor | journal=Studia Musicologica | volume=62 | issue=3–4 | pages=291–307 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Shostakovich's [[String Quartet No. 15 (Shostakovich)|final quartet]], written in the 1970s, comprises six slow movements.

==Variations of string quartet==
[[File:Casals Forum, Arensky string quartet encore.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|End of [[Anton Arensky|Arensky]]'s [[String Quartet No. 2 (Arensky)|String Quartet No. 2]] for violin, viola and two cellos, played at the [[Casals Forum]] in 2023]]
{{unsourced section|date=November 2024}}
Many other chamber groups can be seen as modifications of the string quartet:
* The [[string quintet]] is a string quartet augmented by a fifth string instrument. [[Mozart]] employed two violas in his string quintets, while Schubert's [[String Quintet (Schubert)|string quintet]] utilized two cellos. [[Luigi Boccherini|Boccherini]] wrote a few quintets with a [[double bass]] as the fifth instrument. Most of Boccherini's string quintets are for two violins, viola, and two cellos. Another composer who wrote a string quintet with two cellos is [[Ethel Smyth]].
* The [[string trio]] has one violin, a viola, and a cello.
* The [[piano trio]] has a piano, a violin, and a cello.
* The [[piano quintet]] is a string quartet with an added [[piano]].
* The [[piano quartet]] is a string quartet with one of the violins replaced by a piano.
* The [[clarinet quintet]] is a string quartet with an added [[clarinet]], such as those by [[Clarinet Quintet (Mozart)|Mozart]] and [[Clarinet Quintet (Brahms)|Brahms]].
* The [[string sextet]] contains two each of violins, violas, and cellos. Brahms, for example, wrote two string sextets.
Further expansions have also produced works such as the [[Octet (Mendelssohn)|String octet]] by [[Mendelssohn]], consisting of the equivalent of two string quartets. Notably, [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]] included a [[soprano]] in the last two movements of his [[String Quartets (Schoenberg)#String Quartet No. 2, op. 10|second string quartet]], composed in 1908. Adding a voice has since been done by [[Milhaud]], [[Ginastera]], [[Brian Ferneyhough|Ferneyhough]], [[Peter Maxwell Davies|Davies]], [[İlhan Mimaroğlu]] and many others. Another variation on the traditional string quartet is the electric string quartet with players performing on [[Electric violin|electric instruments]].

==Notable string quartets==
{{See also|List of string quartet composers}}
[[File:Pacifica Quartet performs at the Library of Congress Stradivari Anniversary concert on December 18, 2024 (cropped).jpg|thumb|300x300px|Pacifica Quartet performs at the [[Library of Congress]] [[Antonio Stradivari]] Anniversary concert on December 18, 2024]]
Notable works for string quartet include:
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| description  = Merel Quartet at [[Tonhalle Zürich]], 3 July 2013: Mary Ellen Woodside and Julia Schröder, violin; Ylvali Zilliacus, viola; Rafael Rosenfeld, cello
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* [[Joseph Haydn]]'s [[List of string quartets by Joseph Haydn|68 string quartets]], in particular [[String Quartets, Op. 20 (Haydn)|Op. 20]], [[String Quartets, Op. 33 (Haydn)|Op. 33]], [[String Quartets, Op. 76 (Haydn)|Op. 76]], [[String Quartets, Op. 64 (Haydn)|Op. 64]], No. 5 ("The Lark") and the string quartet version of "The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour On the Cross" ([[The Seven Last Words of Christ (Haydn)|Op. 51]])<ref name="Saphire_Fam_Qt">"[http://www.sapphirequartet.co.uk/famous-string-quartets.html Famous String quartets]", ''SapphireQuartet.co.uk''. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418095201/http://www.sapphirequartet.co.uk/famous-string-quartets.html |date=2012-04-18 }}</ref>
* [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]'s 23 string quartets, in particular the [[Haydn Quartets (Mozart)|set of six dedicated to Haydn]], including [[String Quartet No. 19 (Mozart)|K. 465]] ("Dissonance")<ref name="Saphire_Fam_Qt"/>
* [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'s 16 string quartets, in particular the five "middle" quartets [[String Quartets Nos. 7–9, Op. 59 – Rasumovsky (Beethoven)|Op. 59 nos 1–3]] (''“Rasumovsky”''), [[String Quartet No. 10 (Beethoven)|Op. 74]] and [[String Quartet No. 11 (Beethoven)|Op. 95]]; as well as the [[Late String Quartets (Beethoven)|five late quartets]],<ref>[[Edmund Morris (writer)|Morris, Edmund]], ''Beethoven: The Universal Composer.'' New York: Atlas Books / HarperCollins, 2005. {{ISBN|0-06-075974-7}}</ref> Opp. [[String Quartet No. 12 (Beethoven)|127]], [[String Quartet No. 13 (Beethoven)|130]], [[String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)|131]], [[String Quartet No. 15 (Beethoven)|132]], and [[String Quartet No. 16 (Beethoven)|135]], plus the ''[[Grosse Fuge]],'' Op.&nbsp;133, the original final movement of Op.&nbsp;130.
* [[Franz Schubert]]'s 15 string quartets, in particular the [[String Quartet No. 12 (Schubert)|String Quartet No. 12]] in C minor ("Quartettsatz"), [[String Quartet No. 13 (Schubert)|String Quartet No. 13]] in A minor ("Rosamunde"), [[String Quartet No. 14 (Schubert)|String Quartet No. 14]] in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"), and [[String Quartet No. 15 (Schubert)|String Quartet No. 15]] in G major{{sfn|Eisen|2001|loc=§3}}
* [[Felix Mendelssohn]]'s [[String Quartets (Mendelssohn)|6 numbered string quartets]], in particular the [[String Quartet No. 2 (Mendelssohn)|String Quartet No. 2]] (early example of [[cyclic form]]), and the early [[String Quartet in E-flat major (1823) (Mendelssohn)|unnumbered string quartet in E{{music|flat}} major]]<ref>For a complete analysis of this quartet, see {{harvnb|Griffiths|1983|loc={{Page needed|date=January 2017}}}}</ref>
*[[Robert Schumann]]'s three [[String Quartets (Schumann)|string quartets, Op. 41]], in A minor, F major and A major (1842){{sfn|Wyn Jones|2003|pp=239ff}}
* [[Johannes Brahms]]'s three string quartets, [[String Quartets, Op. 51 (Brahms)|Op.&nbsp;51 No.&nbsp;1 (in C minor), Op.&nbsp;51 No.&nbsp;2 (in A minor)]] and [[String Quartet No. 3 (Brahms)|Op.&nbsp;67 (in B{{music|flat}} major)]]{{sfn|Baldassarre|2001}}
* [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s [[String Quartet (Verdi)|String Quartet]] (1873)
* [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]'s three string quartets (1871, 1873/74, 1876){{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§5}}
* [[Anton Arensky]]'s Second String Quartet, unusually scored for violin, viola and two cellos (1894)
* [[Antonín Dvořák]]'s String Quartets Nos.&nbsp;9–14, particularly [[String Quartet No.&nbsp;12 (Dvořák)|String Quartet No.&nbsp;12 in F major, "American"]];<ref name="Saphire_Fam_Qt"/> also No.&nbsp;3 is an exceptionally long quartet (lasting 65 minutes)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.553378 |title=DVORAK, A.: String Quartets, Vol. 8 (Vlach Quartet) – No. 3 – 8.553378 |access-date=2018-07-20 |archive-date=2018-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720135831/https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.553378 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Bedřich Smetana]]'s two quartets, especially [[String Quartet No. 1 (Smetana)|String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, "From my Life"]] (1876), considered the first piece of chamber [[programme music]]{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§5}}
* [[César Franck]]'s [[String Quartet (Franck)|String Quartet in D major]] (1889–1890){{Sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§5}}
* [[Claude Debussy]]'s [[String Quartet (Debussy)|String Quartet in G minor]], Op.&nbsp;10 (1893)
* [[Maurice Ravel]]'s [[String Quartet (Ravel)|String Quartet]], in F major (1903){{sfn|Scholes|1938|p={{page needed|date=December 2022}}}}
* [[Max Reger]]'s six string quartets (including an early unnumbered one), especially long Quartet No.&nbsp;3 in D minor, Op.&nbsp;74 (1903-04), Quartet No.&nbsp;4 in E{{music|flat}} major, Op.&nbsp;109 (1909), and the last, Quartet No.&nbsp;5 in F{{music|sharp}} minor, Op.&nbsp;121 (1911){{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§5}}
* [[Jean Sibelius]]'s String Quartet in D minor, Op.&nbsp;56, ''[[Voces intimae (Sibelius)|Voces intimae]]'' (1909){{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§6}}
*[[Alexander von Zemlinsky|Alexander Zemlinsky]]'s Second String Quartet, Op. 15 (1913–15){{sfn|Beaumont|2001}}
* [[Edward Elgar]]’s [[String Quartet (Elgar)|String Quartet]] op. 83 in E minor (1918)
* [[Gabriel Fauré]]’s [[String Quartet (Fauré)|String Quartet]] op. 121 in E minor (1924), the composer’s last work 
* [[Leoš Janáček]]'s two string quartets, [[String Quartet No. 1 (Janáček)|String Quartet No. 1, "Kreutzer Sonata"]] (1923), inspired by [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s novel ''[[The Kreutzer Sonata]]'', itself named after Beethoven's [[Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)|''Kreutzer'' Sonata]]; and his second string quartet, ''[[String Quartet No. 2 (Janáček)|Intimate Letters]]'' (1928){{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§7}}
* [[Béla Bartók]]'s [[List of string quartets by Béla Bartók|six string quartets]] (1909, 1915–17, 1926, 1927, 1934, 1939){{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§7}}
* [[Arnold Schoenberg]]'s [[String Quartets (Schoenberg)|four string quartets]] – No.&nbsp;1 Op.&nbsp;7 (1904–05) No.&nbsp;2 Op.&nbsp;10 (1907–08, noteworthy for its first ever inclusion of the human voice in a string quartet), No.&nbsp;3 Op.&nbsp;30 (1927) and No.&nbsp;4 Op.&nbsp;37 (1936){{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§6}}
* [[Alban Berg]]'s [[String Quartet, Op.&nbsp;3 (Berg)|String Quartet, Op. 3]] (1910) and ''[[Lyric Suite (Berg)|Lyric Suite]]'' (1925–26), later adapted for string orchestra{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§7}}
* [[Anton Webern]]'s Five Movements, Op.5 (1909),{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§5}} Six Bagatelles, Op.9 (1913),{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§5}} and [[String Quartet (Webern)|Quartet, Op. 28]] (1937–38){{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§6}}
* [[Darius Milhaud]]'s set of 18 string quartets written between 1912 and 1950, particularly nos. 14 and 15 op. 291 (1948–49), which can be played simultaneously as a string octet{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§8}}
* [[Heitor Villa-Lobos]]'s 17 string quartets (1915–57), in particular the [[String Quartet No. 5 (Villa-Lobos)|Fifth]] ("Popular"), [[String Quartet No. 6 (Villa-Lobos)|Sixth]] ("Brazilian"), and [[String Quartet No. 17 (Villa-Lobos)|Seventeenth]] String Quartets.{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§8}}
* [[Ruth Crawford-Seeger]]'s string quartet (1931) 
* [[Alois Hába]]'s 16 string quartets (1919–67),{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§8}} some of them in quarter-tone tuning, the last in fifth-tone tuning
* [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]'s 15 string quartets, in particular the [[String Quartet No. 8 (Shostakovich)|No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 (1960)]], and [[String Quartet No. 15 (Shostakovich)|No. 15]] Op. 144 (1974) in six [[Tempo|Adagio]] movements{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§8}}
* [[John Cage]]'s ''[[String Quartet in Four Parts]]''{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§8}} (1950)
* [[Elliott Carter]]'s five string quartets{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§8}} (1951, 1959, 1971, 1986, 1995)
* [[Iannis Xenakis]]'s ''ST/4'' (1962),{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§8}} ''Tetras'' (1983), ''Tetora'' (1990) and ''Ergma'' (1994)
* [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]'s ''[[Helikopter-Streichquartett]]'' (1992–93), to be played by the four musicians in four helicopters<ref>Karlheinz Stockhausen,.. "Helikopter-Streichquartett", ''Grand Street'' 14, no. 4 (Spring 1996, "Grand Street 56: Dreams"): 213–225. {{ISBN|1-885490-07-0}}. Online variant version [1999], as "[https://web.archive.org/web/20141117125904/http://www.stockhausen.org/helicopter_intro.html Introduction: Helicopter String Quartet (1992/93)]" (some omissions, some supplements, different illustrations; archive from 17 November 2014, accessed 11 August 2016).</ref>{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|loc=§9}}
* [[Brian Ferneyhough]]'s six string quartets (1963, 1980, 1987, 1989–90, 2006, 2010) as well as his ''Sonatas for String Quartet'' (1967), ''Adagissimo'' (1983), ''Dum transisset I–IV'' (2007), ''Exordium'' (2008) and ''Silentium'' (2014)
* [[Salvatore Sciarrino]]'s eight string quartets (1967–2008)
* [[Wolfgang Rihm]]'s 13 string quartets (1970–2011)
* [[Helmut Lachenmann]]'s three string quartets (''Gran Torso'', 1972; ''[[Reigen seliger Geister]]'', 1989; ''Grido'', 2001) 
* [[Morton Feldman]]'s ''Second String Quartet'' (1983), which typically takes about five hours in performance
* [[Georges Lentz]]'s 43-hour digital ''[[String Quartet(s)]]'' (2000–2023), a vast four-channel multi-disciplinary work permanently played in the [[Cobar Sound Chapel]]<ref>{{cite web |title=THE MUSIC |url=https://www.cobarsoundchapel.com/the-music.html |website=Cobar Sound Chapel |access-date=November 7, 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

==String quartets (ensembles)==
{{main|List of string quartet ensembles}}
Whereas individual string players often group together to make [[ad hoc]] string quartets, others continue to play together for many years in ensembles which may be named after the first violinist (e.g. the [[Takács Quartet]]), a composer (e.g. the [[Borodin Quartet]]) or a location (e.g. the [[Budapest String Quartet|Budapest Quartet]]). Established quartets may undergo changes in membership whilst retaining their original name.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Baldassarre|2001}}|reference=Baldassarre, Antonio : "String Quartet: §4", in: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Beaumont|2001}}|reference=Beaumont, Antony. 2001. "Zemlinsky [Zemlinszky], Alexander (von). ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Eisen|2001}}|reference=Eisen, Cliff: "String Quartet: §§1–3", in: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Finscher|2000}}|reference=[[Ludwig Finscher|Finscher, Ludwig]]: ''Joseph Haydn und seine Zeit'' (Laaber, Germany: Laaber, 2000).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Griesinger|1963}}|reference=[[Georg August Griesinger|Griesinger, Georg August]]: ''Biographical Notes Concerning Joseph Haydn'' (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, [1810] 1963). English translation by Vernon Gotwals, in ''Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits'' (Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press).}}{{Verify source|date=January 2017}}<!--Cannot find any 1810 or 1963 Breitkopf & Härtel publication under this or any other title; similarly, no English translation by Vernon Gotwals found from any date published by the Milwaukee branch of University of Wisconson Press.-->
* {{cite book| last = Griffiths| first = Paul|author-link=Paul Griffiths (writer)| title = The String Quartet: A History|publisher = Thames and Hudson| year = 1983| isbn=0-500-27383-9}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Griffiths|2001}}|reference=Griffiths, Paul: "String Quartet: §§5–9", in: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).}}
* {{cite book|last=Scholes|first=Percy A.|author-link=Percy Scholes|title=[[The Oxford Companion to Music]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1938}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Tovey}}|reference=[[Donald Tovey|Tovey, Donald]]: ''Essays in Musical Analysis''. {{Full citation needed|date=January 2017}}}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Webster|Feder|2001}}|reference=[[James Webster (musicologist)|Webster, James]] & Feder, Georg: "Joseph Haydn", article in: ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' (London & New York: Macmillan, 2001). Published separately as a book: ''The New Grove Haydn'' (New York: Macmillan 2002, {{ISBN|0-19-516904-2}}).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Wyn Jones|2003}}|reference=[[David Wyn Jones|Wyn Jones, David]]: "The Origins of the Quartet", in Robin Stowell (ed.): ''[[Cambridge Companions to Music|The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet]]'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); {{ISBN|0-521-00042-4}}.}}

==Further reading==
* Barrett-Ayres, Reginald: ''Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet'' (New York: Schirmer Books, 1974); {{ISBN|0-02-870400-2}}.
* Blum, David: ''The Art of Quartet Playing: The Guarneri Quartet in Conversation with David Blum'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986); {{ISBN|0-394-53985-0}}.
* Eisler, Edith: ''21st-Century String Quartets'' (String Letter Publishing, 2000); {{ISBN|1-890490-15-6}}.
* [[Hans Keller|Keller, Hans]]: ''The Great Haydn Quartets. Their Interpretation'' (London: J. M. Dent, 1986); {{ISBN|0-460-86107-7}}.
* {{cite book |last=Krummacher |first=Friedhelm |author-link=Friedhelm Krummacher |year=2005 |title=Geschichte des Streichquartetts |trans-title=History of the String Quartet |language=German |edition=2nd |volume=3 vols: Volume 1, Die Zeit der Wiener Klassik; volume 2, Romantik und Moderne; volume 3, Neue Musik und Avantgarde  |publisher={{ill|Laaber-Verlag|de}} |location=Laaber |isbn= }}
* Rounds, David: ''The Four & the One: In Praise of String Quartets'' (Fort Bragg, California: Lost Coast Press, 1999); {{ISBN|1-882897-26-9}}.
* [[Charles Rosen|Rosen, Charles]]: ''The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1971); {{ISBN|0-571-10234-4}} (soft covers), {{ISBN|0-571-09118-0}} (hardback).
* [[Arnold Steinhardt|Steinhardt, Arnold]]: ''Indivisible by Four'' (Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1998); {{ISBN|0-374-52700-8}}.
* {{cite book|last=Vernon|first=David|title=Beethoven: The String Quartets|date=5 September 2023 |location=Edinburgh|publisher=Candle Row Press, 2023|isbn=978-1739659929}}
* Vuibert, Francis: ''Répertoire universel du quatuor à cordes'' (2009) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718200859/http://www.gregsandow.com/quartint.htm ProQuartet-CEMC]; {{ISBN|978-2-9531544-0-5}}.
* Winter, Robert (ed.): ''The Beethoven Quartet Companion'' (University of California Press, 1996).

==External links==
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718200859/http://www.gregsandow.com/quartint.htm |date=July 18, 2011 |title=Greg Sandow – Introducing String Quartets }}
* [http://www.raptusassociation.org/stringprehist_e.html A brief history of the development of the String Quartet up to Beethoven]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050119222457/http://all-about-beethoven.com/stringquartet.html Beethoven's string quartets]}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040103104013/http://www.artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/instsearch.pl?inst=string%20quartet Art of the States: string quartet]}} works for string quartet by American composers
* [http://www.editionsilvertrust.com String Quartet Sound-bites from lesser known composers] E.G. Onslow, Viotti, Rheinberger, Gretchaninov, A.Taneyev, Kiel, Busoni & many more.
* [http://www.europarchive.org/results.php?query=strykkwartet&additional=&x=0&y=0 European archive] String quartet recordings on copyright free LPs at the European Archive (for non-American users only).
* [http://www.quartets.de/index.html Shostakovich: the string quartets]
* [http://www.quartetweb.org String quartet compositions and performers since about 1914 and the connections between them]

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[[Category:Types of musical groups]]