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
Curtis String Quartet Curtis String Quartet The Curtis String Quartet was an American string quartet based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The quartet as an entity was formed in 1932 with initial members Jascha Brodsky, Benjamin Sharlip (violins), Max Aronoff (viola), and Orlando Cole (cello). After Sharlip's departure in 1934 to join the Philadelphia Orchestra, the position was filled by Charles Jaffe; it was with him that they achieved many of their earliest milestones. The ensemble's origins are actually a bit earlier: they were initially called the Swastika Quartet upon their founding as students in 1927, with Gama Gilbert and Benjamin Sharlip as violinists, Sheppard