Which instruments commonly formed the concertino in a Baroque concerto grosso?
In a Baroque concerto grosso, the concertinoâthe small group of soloistsâtypically followed the instrumentation of the trio sonata, which was the prevalent chamber music genre of the era.1
This standard setting generally consisted of:
* Two violins123
* Basso continuo, which included a low melody instrument (such as a cello) and a harmony instrument (such as a harpsichord) to realize the chords.12
While this string-based trio was the most common configuration, composers frequently utilized other combinations as well. Wind instruments were often incorporated into the concertino, and as the genre matured, composers like Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach experimented with highly varied scoring, including combinations of strings, woodwinds, and other instruments like the lute or viola d'amore.13