I just remembered the quintessential string quartet. It's by Tchaikovsky and is probably the one you will hear whenever someone hires a string quartet for an event. There is also a cello and strings arrangement (as well as piano, guitar, etc.).

If you use the words "program notes" in your Google search (as well as the name of a particular piece), you can locate some interesting history of the piece.

A little copy & paste (I think it's OK in the music section??????) from here:


Quartet no. 1 in D major, op. 11 (composed 1871)

The name Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky does not usually come to mind in the context of chamber music. Only a relative handful of works constitute his contribution to the genre:   his three string quartets opera 11, 22, and 30; his piano trio, op. 50; and his string sextet, op. 70, to name the most prominent. Yet his claim as one of the pioneers, along with Alexander Borodin, in the development of the Russian chamber music tradition cannot be disputed. His quartets in particular, which incorporate nationalist qualities but are not mere embellishments of existing folk music, are often heard as harbingers of the style so magnificently realized by Dmitri Shostakovich in the twentieth century.

Tchaikovsky's "Quartet no. 1 in D major, op. 11" was written out of economic necessity at the urging of his friend and mentor, the conductor Nicholas Rubinstein. In early 1871, the two were trying to organize a concert of Tchaikovsky's works in Moscow, but could not afford to employ a full orchestra. Having only a few small-scale works at his disposal, including several piano pieces and a set of six songs, Tchaikovsky devoted most of February 1871 to the "Quartet op. 11." Although hurriedly written, it became one of his greatest successes. The "Andante cantabile," in particular, has had an active life of its own in several alternative transcriptions. In his diary, Tchaikovsky expressed pride that, while sitting next to the great writer at a performance of the movement, Leo Tolstoy wept.


Listen to the cello and strings version here:

Andante cantabile, for cello and string orchestra in D major (arr. of 2nd mvt. from String Quartet No.1)
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky

No.2 on Disc 1
here.


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Then don't forget Borodin, a doctor and chemist. His friends preferred him to be sick because he wrote music when he was sick, worked in the lab when he was well. He also let women work in his lab! (my hero ;-))


Polovtsian Dances made popular by the musical Kismet.

His bio here.

His music here.