String trio String trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. The term is generally used with reference to works of chamber music from the Classical period to the present. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cello (cf "string quartet", "piano trio" etc.). This is how the term is used by major catalogs, including IMSLP. The earliest string-trio form, found in the early Classical period, consisted of two violins and a cello, a grouping
String Quartet in Four Parts composed for the same ensemble: "Thirty pieces for String Quartet" of 1983, "Music for Four" of 1987–88 and "Four" of 1989. String Quartet in Four Parts String Quartet in Four Parts is a string quartet by John Cage, composed in 1950. It is one of the last works Cage wrote that is not entirely aleatoric. Like "Sonatas and Interludes" for prepared piano (1946–48) and the ballet "The Seasons" (1947), this work explores ideas from Indian philosophy. Cage began writing the quartet in 1949 in Paris. Prior to beginning to work on the piece, he told his parents that he wanted