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
Vaghy String Quartet and Avery Fisher Hall as well as many others halls, and on radio (such as CBC Radio) and television. The quartet also performed live and on recording throughout Europe, as well as at the 1976 Summer Olympics, premiering several works. Their repertoire included Bartók, Shostakovich, Szymanowski, Ravel, and Janáček, among other 20th-century composers. The quartet premiered several works as well: John Fodi's Quartet for Strings 'Ch'ien' and Paul Crawford's String Quartet: 'La nuit étoilée' in 1974; James Montgomery's Reconnaissance in 1975; Graham George's Fuguing Music for String Quartet, James Kent's Cadenza String Quartet, and Norman Sherman's Quadron in 1976; William