In my series of posts about different musical instruments, I have, over time, managed to cover most of the most common instruments that feature in Western music – those instruments that your children are most likely to be learning to play, or to come across in some way during their time in education at least. So rather than either go back over those instruments I have already written about, or write about less common instruments (which is something I may well do in future years), I thought I would now use my Facts About… series of posts to talk about the most common ensembles that your children will listen to, see perform, or maybe play or sing in. Again, my focus is on ensembles that feature in Western traditions, and it may well be that in the future I look at musical instruments and ensembles from other musical traditions, but for now I will stick with what I know. You can read my other blog posts in this series on ensembles by clicking on the links below:
What is a string quartet, and who performs in it?
- With the word quartet meaning “a group of four people who play musical instruments or sing as a group”, you will be unsurprised that a string quartet is made up of four musicians who all okay string instruments.
- Specifically, a string quartet has the following players:
- Two violinists
- Viola player
- Cello player
- A string quartet will play music written specifically for this grouping. This music might be composed only for the string quartet, and there are many, many beautiful pieces of music written for the string quartet, or they may play music arranged for the string quartet that was originally written for a different grouping.
- A string quartet is a Chamber ensemble. Chamber music is different to large-scale orchestral or choral music in that it is on a much smaller scale. An orchestra or large choir needs a big room just to fit the performers in, never mind the audience; but a Chamber ensemble would fit inside a much smaller room, a chamber, as there are fewer players to fit into the space.
- A Chamber ensemble will be quieter than an orchestra – again simply because there are fewer musicians playing at one time, and also to be able to be heard comfortably in a smaller room. However, that does not mean that they are very quiet. It’s just a different scale to larger orchestral etc works.
- There is a huge variety of music written and arranged for string quartet, so pretty much the only limits on what a string quartet can play is the limitations of the range of the instruments involved and the imaginations of the composers/arrangers/performers. The string quartet is a very versatile ensemble.
- In a string quartet, the musicians will sit facing each other in a semi-circle. They will traditionally sit from left to right violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello, though some string quartets prefer different seating arrangements.
- A string quartet will not have a conductor, but the musicians will listen very carefully to each other, and have regular eye contact with each other, to make sure they are playing together.
History of the string quartet
- While there had been various different groupings of stringed instruments before this time, it was Classical Composer Franz Joseph Haydn who really brought them to wider attention. Haydn wrote some 68 string quartets, and it was through his work that string quartets were established, both as a grouping of instruments and as a form for a particular piece of music.
- I say as a form of music because, while a string quartet is the name of the group made up of 2 violins, viola and cello; if you listen to Haydn’s later string quartets as well as music written by other composers with the title “String Quartet”, you will see that they are all very similar.
- The String Quartet as a piece of music, once it was established, had 4 movements (a self-contained piece of music within a larger work). Those movements were:
- 1st movement: In the tonic key (the key that is in the title of the string quartet, for example String Quartet in F major, the first movement will be in F major). Usually a fairly fast, lively movement played Allegro (lively)
- 2nd movement: In contrast, a slower movement, often in the subdominant key (the subdominant note is a fourth higher than the tonic note, so in my example of a string quartet in F major, this movement would probably be in the key of Bb major
- 3rd movement: Back to being fairly lively, this movement would be a minuet and trio (this means music that could accompany a dance, and probably in a 3/4 time signature) This movement would return to the tonic key
- 4th movement: Rondo form (a piece of music that keeps returning to the same theme) or Sonata form (this form has 3 sections: 1 – the theme appears; 2 – the theme is developed; 3 – the theme is returns pretty much as it was in the beginning) in the tonic key. The piece ends in the same key that it starts in.
- The string quartet became a popular work to compose during the Classical and Romantic periods in music history and you will be able to find string quartets written by most, if not all, the composers that you can think of off the top of your head.
- As time progressed towards the 20th Century, some composers wrote increasingly difficult, virtuosic and longer string quartets; and 20th Century composers used the string quartet as a vehicle for exploring different styles of music composition, from Impressionist composers like Debussy, to more Atonal (music that doesn’t conform to the expected tonal and harmony rules) composers like Schoenberg.
- Today, there many string quartets who are famous for being a string quartet and not as part of a larger orchestra, or other ensemble – The Kronos Quartet, The Borodin Quartet, Takács Quartet and The Vitamin String Quartet to name a few.
- String Quartets can be found performing in the world’s most famous concert halls, in schools, on TV soundtracks, behind pop artists, as the band at a wedding. They play from the huge repertoire of Classical, Romantic, 20th Century music through to string quartet arrangements of jazz, rock, pop songs and anything in between.
- The string quartet is a hugely versatile, and exciting group to be part of and to listen to.
String Quartet World Records
- The Guinness World Record for an act that has performed the most cover versions of songs is held by a string quartet, The Vitamin String Quartet (readers who watch Bridgerton – and mostly the parents rather than younger children who read this I would suspect – may recognise the sound of The Vitamin String Quartet from the show’s soundtrack). As of 20 March 2018, The Vitamin String Quartet had 1,301 cover versions of songs logged in website WhoSampled.com
Sources, especially for historical information
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/quartet
- http://www.britannica.com
- https://www.earsense.org/article/Exploring-the-String-Quartet-The-First-250-Years/
- https://www.classical-music.com/features/artists/best-string-quartet-ensembles-ever
- http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com
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