String quartet of divertimenti for two solo violins, viola and cello by Viennese composers such as Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Ignaz Holzbauer; and there had long been a tradition of performing orchestral works with one instrument to a part. David Wyn Jones cites the widespread practice of playing works written for string orchestra, such as divertimenti and serenades, with just four players, one to a part, there being no separate (fifth) contrabass part in string scoring before the 19th century. However, these composers showed no interest in exploring the development of the string quartet as a medium. The origins of the string
String Quartet (Franck) influential musicians including Jacques Offenbach. Although Franck abandoned his string quartet, he resumed in 1888, and, as d'Indy recalled, he learned the scores of string quartets by Beethoven and Schubert on his piano for intensive study. Many elements of Franck's string quartet are considered to stem from Beethoven's later works, but traces of Beethoven are not superficially visible. The String Quartet was Franck’s first public success during his life. Franck, known as a late-flowering composer, had attracted little attention from audiences. Even the Symphony D minor and the "Prélude, Aria et Final", whose reputation is well established today, were disastrously