Quartet Quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices or instruments. In Classical music, the most important combination of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quartets most often consist of two violins, a viola, and a cello. The particular choice and number of instruments derives from the registers of the human voice: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. In the string quartet, two violins play the soprano and alto vocal registers, the viola plays the tenor register and
String Quartet No. 1 (Shostakovich) which clashes with the happy mood in the exciting development, which leads to the vibrant recapitulation and coda. The ending bars are an impressive climax, with the viola and cello playing rapid notes in their lowest registers while the violins hammer out C major chords above. String Quartet No. 1 (Shostakovich) Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 49, was composed in six weeks during the summer of 1938. It carries no dedication. This string quartet has none of the bravura of the fifth symphony which preceded it. Instead, the composer seemed to have discovered a new