concerto

Introduction
Origins of the concerto
The Baroque vocal-instrumental concerto (c. 1585–1650)
The Baroque concerto grosso (c. 1675–1750)
- Social function of the concerto grosso
- Orchestration
- Theme and structure
- Major contributions
The Classical concerto (c. 1750–1830)
- Role of the piano
- Movement cycles and forms
- Major contributions
The Romantic era (c. 1790–1915)
- Orchestration
- Romantic innovations
- Major contributions
The modern era (from about 1915)

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

At a Glance

George Balanchine stands at the edge of a stage, observing and guiding three ballerinas in rehearsal as they perform arabesques en pointe.

concerto summary

Quizzes

Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)

Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz

American opera singer Rosa Ponselle in "Le Roi d'Ys"; photo dated c. 1920 - 1925.

Singers, Musicians, Composers, and More Quiz

Related Questions

How are Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concerti connected to poems about the seasons?
How can a cadenza display a soloist’s technique?
How did Andrea Gabrieli use the term concerto in his 1587 collection?
How did Beethoven expand the size and expressive range of the piano concerto?
How did Corelli divide his Opus 6 concerti grossi between church and court styles?
How did Dario Castello’s Sonate concertate in stilo moderno point toward the instrumental concerto?
How did Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók revive concerto grosso techniques?
How did Johann Sebastian Bach transform Vivaldi concerti when transcribing them?
How did Vivaldi standardize the three-movement concerto cycle?
How did Vivaldi use unusual combinations of string and wind instruments in his concerti?
How did Vivaldi’s violin writing use bariolage and broken chords?
How did basso continuo support music in the Baroque era?
How did electronic and chance music change the traditional idea of the concerto?
How did fugue and variation appear in concerto grosso movements?
How did improvements in piano construction affect Romantic piano concertos?
How did jazz influence George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Aaron Copland’s Piano Concerto?
How did larger Romantic orchestras become stronger partners for concerto soloists?
How did modern composers reduce the gap between the concerto soloist and orchestra?
How did ritornello form organize fast movements in Baroque concerti grossi?
How did terrace dynamics strengthen the contrast between tutti and soli groups?
How did the Baroque vocal-instrumental concerto influence the German cantata?
How did the Thirty Years’ War affect the size of vocal-instrumental ensembles in Germany?
How did the concerto grosso contrast a concertino with a ripieno orchestra?
How did the decline of basso continuo change the scoring of the solo concerto?
How did the solo concerto become more important than the concerto grosso after about 1750?
How did twelve-tone music influence concertos by Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg?
How did vocal-instrumental concertos use voices and instruments together?
How do the ideas of agreement and competition relate to the history of the concerto?
How does Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 begin differently from many earlier concertos?
How does a concerto differ from a sonata?
How does a solo concerto create a dialogue between a soloist and an orchestra?
How does the orchestra introduce musical ideas in a concerto exposition?
How does the soloist’s exposition differ from the orchestra’s exposition in a Classical concerto?
How were cadenzas traditionally performed in Classical concertos?
What do the terms tutti and soli mean in a Baroque concerto grosso?
What is the usual fast-slow-fast movement pattern in a Classical concerto?
What kinds of musical contrasts appeared in the early stile concertato?
Where does a cadenza usually appear in a concerto movement?
Where were Baroque vocal-instrumental concertos commonly performed?
Where were concerto grossi typically performed in the Baroque era?
Which composers wrote major Romantic cello concertos?
Which instruments commonly formed the concertino in a Baroque concerto grosso?
Which musical forms are commonly used in the first movements of Classical concertos?
Why are rondo and sonata-rondo forms common in concerto finales?
Why can an added cadenza sound out of place in an older concerto?
Why could a Baroque court use amateur musicians in concerto grosso performances?
Why did the piano replace the harpsichord as the leading concerto instrument in the Classical era?
Why do most Classical concertos have three movements?
Why is Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 important in the history of the harpsichord concerto?
Why is sonata form often treated more freely in concertos than in symphonies?
Why were piano concertos especially popular during the Romantic era?

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Fact Monster - Entertainment - Concerto

concerto

music

Also known as: concerto style

Written by

William S. Newman

Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Author of A History of the Sonata Idea and others.

William S. Newman

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

concerto, since about 1750, a musical composition for instruments in which a solo instrument is set off against an orchestral ensemble. The soloist and ensemble are related to each other by alternation, competition, and combination. In this sense the concerto, like the symphony or the string quartet, may be seen as a special case of the musical genre embraced by the term sonata. Like the sonata and symphony, the concerto is typically a cycle of...

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