Other than that, everything is fine.
The string quartet is a basic building block of the chamber repertory. If you add one other instrument, you come up with a quintet, and there are many types of quintet.
The first musical instrument was the human voice. Many composers tried their hands at lied, or art song. The American composer Samuel Barber (1910-81) took Matthew Arnold’s poem and set it to music in 1931 with himself in mind as the baritone, backed by a string quartet.
Sam could sit down at the piano and play and sing Irish folks songs for hours, as visitors to his home in Mount Kisco (NY) could attest. He had strong opinions about music, which he rarely kept to himself. This led to a great adventure in 1937.
In that year, Sam was 27 and living in West Chester (PA). He went to New York to record “Dover Beach” at the RCA studios with the Curtis String Quartet, which was in residence at the Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia.
Barber took the train to New York, spent the day recording “Dover Beach” until he, the quartet and the producer got it right. The gang went out for dinner and drinks, and Sam recalled that he got “as drunk as a lord.” He must have been pretty well hung over by the time he got back to West Chester.
I have two recordings for this entry. This is the original 78 rpm recording of Samuel Barber singing his own song backed by the Curtis Quartet. The sound quality is fair and gives you a hint of what a fine voice this composer had.
This is a recording by one of the greatest baritones in the game, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who died a few years ago.
Couldn't resist....:)