Chamber Music

Making music together in small instrumental ensembles had been a
popular diversion since as far back as the 16th century. In the
Renaissance , chamber ensembles were called consorts and were usually
groups of similar types of instruments (four recorders, for example).

In the Baroque period, music was divided into two distinct categories:
musica da chiesa (music for the church) and musica da camera (music
for the chamber). The harpsichord was used in almost all Baroque
chamber music because of its ability to play chords and provide harmony.
But, by the mid-1700s, the harpsichord was already being replaced by
the piano. The piano, able to play both loudly and softly (unlike its
predecessor), quickly became a favorite instrument in chamber music
ensembles. Popular combinations of the Classical period were sonatas
for violin and piano, and the piano trio (for violin, cello and piano). Also
around this time, Haydn was writing for string quartet, an ensemble of
two violins, viola and cello. He wrote some eighty string quartets, and (as
with the symphony) was almost single-handedly responsible for creating a
major musical form.

In the Romantic period, composers wrote for various combinations of
strings, winds, brass and piano. Schubert's Octet (1824), for example, is
written for winds (clarinet and bassoon), brass (horn) and strings (two
violins, viola, cello and bass).

The duo sonata, the string quartet and the piano trio are still the most
common chamber ensembles. Other popular ensembles are the piano
quartet (piano, violin, viola and cello), the piano quintet (piano plus
string quartet), and the woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon
and horn).