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
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