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 (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