The Walden String Quartet was a chamber music ensemble formed in 1934 by members of the Cleveland Orchestra.
[1] It was originally the idea of violinist Homer Schmitt and cellist Robert Swenson, who met in 1927.
For a while they were known as the "Walden Quartet of Cleveland College",[4] referring to the adult education campus of Western Reserve University.
The next year, following the move of Cornell's head of music to the University of Illinois, they became quartet-in-residence at that school with academic appointments, a first in the United States.
[8] The group premiered many 20th Century works including Elliott Carter's String Quartet No.