Webern's quartet was the last of his chamber pieces, and was commissioned by and dedicated to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (who originally wanted a wind piece but was convinced by Webern's friend Rudolf Kolisch to accept a string quartet from Webern because he was preparing to write one at the time). A serial piece using a single series—one which contains the famous B-A-C-H motive— and built upon a group of small motivic cells, the String Quartet shows the importance of symmetry and canon in Webern's later works, and also reveals the influence of Beethoven in its concise lyricism.

The quartet is a three-movement work with a strong sense of contrast throughout, particularly, as Susan Bradshaw has noted, between expression and rigid formal structure, between dynamic and registral extremes, and between sound and silence. The quartet is also notable for its decidedly Webernian use of syncopation and tempo changes, which serve to blur barlines and disrupt the regularity of the rhythmic pulse.

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