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
Silesian String Quartet Silesian String Quartet The Silesian String Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1978 by the graduates of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. Its current members are: In 1978, graduates of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice founded the Silesian String Quartet. They participated in masterclasses with such artists as, among others, the musicians of the LaSalle Quartet, Amadeus, Juilliard, Smetana and Alban Berg string quartets. In 1993, the Silesian Quartet launched an annual chamber music festival held under the motto "Silesian Quartet and its guests". Since 2005, the Self-Government of Gliwice has been