What is String quartet?
A '''string quartet''' is a piece of music for four [[string instruments]]. A '''string quartet''' can also mean the four people who play a piece for four string instruments. The four instruments in a string quartet are almost always 2 [[violin]]s, 1 [[viola]] and 1 [[cello]]. The reason that a [[double bass]] is not used is that it would sound too loud and heavy. The balance between 2 violins, viola and cello is considered ideal. String quartets are the most popular form of [[chamber music]]. Many [[composer]]s have written string quartets. String quartet writing started in the 18th century. [[Italy|Italian]] composers like [[Sammartini]] (1698-1775) wrote music for two violins, viola and [[continuo]]. The continuo was either just a [[harpsichord]] or harpsichord with cello. Gradually composers started to leave the harpsichord out. The cello often played the same as the viola but one [[octave]] lower. Composers of the [[Classical music period]] started writing cello parts which had an identity of their own. [[Joseph Haydn]] (1732-1809) wrote 68 string quartets, and made it a very popular form. His quartets from [[Opus number|opus]] 33 were, he said, “written in a new and special way”. All four parts were very clear and individual. There were always four movements: a fast movement, a slow one, a [[Minuet]] and [[Trio]] and a fast final movement. Haydn often played in a quartet with [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] (1756-1791) and two other players. Mozart also wrote 23 string quartets and dedicated some of them to Haydn. Three of Mozart’s later ones were written for the [[King of Prussia]] who played the cello well, so Mozart gave the cello lots of difficult music to play. By the time [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] (1770-1827) was growing up, string quartets treated each of the four instruments as important. Beethoven wrote 16 string quartets. The middle ones became particularly famous and later composers took ideas from them, for example the slow introductions, and the idea of having a fast [[scherzo]] instead of a min