String quartet 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. The string quartet in its now accepted form came about with Haydn. If the combination of two violins, viola and cello was not unknown before Haydn, when it occurred in chamber music it was more likely through circumstance than conscious design; certainly 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
Walden String Quartet the United States. The quartet remained there until it disbanded in the late 1970s. In 1949, the quartet was selected by the civil affairs division of the U.S. war department to tour Austria and Germany, as well as Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, and finally London, where they performed Quartet No.2 by Wallingford Riegger and Charles Ives's Second String Quartet. The group premiered many 20th Century works including Elliott Carter's String Quartet No. 1, which was dedicated to them. Walden String Quartet The Walden String Quartet was a chamber music ensemble formed in 1934 by members of the Cleveland Orchestra. It was