0 a group of four singers or people playing musical instruments -- tứ ca; nhóm tứ tấu
a string quartet.
1 a piece of music written for such a group -- bản tứ tấu
a Mozart quartet.
One of the questions raised by the anticipation of the quartets, before they were written, was how their composer would treat the more uniform instrumental color of an unbroken consort.
The lower rate of correct selection from quartets than from pairs in the mild acceptance condition undoubtedly reflects differences in the chance likelihood of such selections.
The fact that the rates for pairs were significantly greater than chance, but the rates for quartets were not, however, suggests there is more to it than this.
Most of these quartets have the customary succession of solos for each instrument in turn, with the second violin often expected to mirror the virtuosity of the first.
The mood of reflectiveness (let alone the references to earlier string quartets) is more suited to the intimacy of chamber music.
Unfamiliar kinds were selected from the pairs more often than from the quartets (0n57 and 0n19, respectively).
In the no word task, children selected unfamiliar kinds from both pairs and quartets at rates significantly below chance.
Responses between quartets may thus echo and proliferate.
