String quartet movements with a large-scale structure similar to that of a symphony: Substantial modifications to the typical structure were already achieved in Beethoven's later quartets, and despite some notable examples to the contrary, composers writing in the twentieth century increasingly abandoned this structure. Many other chamber groups can be seen as modifications of the string quartet: Further expansions have also been produced such as the String octet by Mendelssohn. Notably, Schoenberg included a soprano in the last two movements of his second string quartet, composed in 1908. This instrumentation of adding a voice is succeeded by Hindemith , Finzi, Respighi, Ginastera,
String quartet characterization and drama in the individual-pitted-against-the-mass vein, the writer of string quartets must perforce concentrate on the bare bones of musical logic. Thus, in many ways the string quartet is pre-eminently the dialectical form of instrumental music, the one most naturally suited to the activity of logical disputation and philosophical enquiry. Quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert following Haydn in each writing a number of quartets. A slight slackening in the pace of quartet composition occurred in the later 19th century, in part due to a movement away from