concerto

/keuhn cher"toh/; It. /kawn cherdd"taw/, n., pl. concertos, concerti /-tee/. Music.

a composition for one or more principal instruments, with orchestral accompaniment, now usually in symphonic form.

[1720-30; < It, deriv. of concertare; see CONCERT (v.)]

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Musical composition for solo instrument and orchestra.

The solo concerto grew out of the older concerto grosso. Giuseppe Torelli's violin concertos of 1698 are the first known solo concertos. Antonio Vivaldi, the first important concerto composer, wrote more than 350 solo concertos, mostly for violin. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the first keyboard concertos. From the Classical period on, most concertos have been written for piano, followed in popularity by the violin and then the cello. Wofgang Amadeus Mozart wrote 27 piano concertos; other notable composers of piano concertos include Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Johannes Brahms. From the outset the concerto has been almost exclusively a three-movement form, with fast tempos in the first and third movements and a slow central movement. It has generally been intended to display the soloist's virtuosity, particularly in the unaccompanied and often improvised cadenzas near the ends of the first and third movements. Nineteenth-century concertos were often conceived as a kind of dramatic struggle between soloist and orchestra; many later composers preferred that the soloist blend with the orchestra.

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▪ music

Introduction

plural  concerti , or  concertos 

      since about 1750, a musical composition (musical composition) for instruments in which a solo instrument is set off against an orchestral (orchestra) 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 (cyclic form) of several contrasting movements integrated tonally and often thematically. The individual movements are usually based on certain recognized designs, including sonata form, A B A (the letters refer to large distinct musical sections), variations, and rondo (such as A B A C A).

      But the concerto tends to differ from the sonata, too, in certain ways that set it apart. Thus, in the sonata form of the concerto's first movement, the exposition often remains in the tonic key while played by the entire orchestra the first time through. The expected departure to a nearly related key and the introduction of the soloist are reserved to a characteristically more elaborate repetition of the exposition. Moreover, to meet a felt need for a more brilliant ending in the same movement, the concerto provides or at least invites an improvised cadenza near the end of the movement—an extended, free flourish that may go on for as long as several minutes. A shorter cadenza may also occur at a strategic point in one or more of the other movements. In addition, the concerto has followed much more consistently than the sonata the plan of three movements, in the order fast–slow–fast. The second movement leads, often without pause, into the finale, or last movement, and the finale has shown a more consistent preference for the rondo design. But, importantly, all of these distinctions of musical form are secondary to the dialogue inherent in the concerto's interrelationship of soloist and orchestra. This dialogue influences the very nature of the solo part by almost forcing the soloist into a virtuoso's role so that he can compete on an equal footing with his adversary, the orchestra. The dialogue, furthermore, influences not only the construction of individual musical phrases but also the musical textures chosen. In addition, it affects the ways of developing musical material (e.g., themes, rhythms) according to the logic of musical form, and even the broader blocking off of sections within forms, as in the concerto's repeated exposition, with its sections for full orchestra (tutti) and soloist.

 The literature of the concerto since 1750 is extensive in all categories, although the standard repertoire is limited to scarcely more than a few works for each main solo instrument. Being a prime ingredient of popular concert fare, the concerto is subject, much as is opera, to the exigencies of the box office. The film and recording industries have helped further to give disproportionate promience to a few highly successful and undeniably effective examples like those for piano by the Norwegian Edvard Grieg (in A minor) and the Russians Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (in B flat minor) and Sergey Rachmaninoff (Rachmaninoff, Sergey) (in C minor).

      Taking music's commonly accepted eras for its framework, this examination of the concerto starts in the late Renaissance (16th century), with the origins and first uses of the term. It proceeds to the Baroque era (about 1580 to 1750), which was the first main era of the concerto, including the vocal-instrumental concerto in the late 16th and 17th centuries and, especially, the concerto grosso in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The discussion progresses next to the Classical era (about 1730 to 1830) and the Romantic era (Romanticism) (about 1790 to 1915), which mark successive though dissimilar heydays of the solo concerto partially discussed above. Lastly it reaches the modern era (from about 1890), which has witnessed further vitality in the solo concerto and a renaissance of the older concerto grosso principle of contrasting instrumental groups. Within each era examined, the prime considerations of the discussion are the meanings of “concerto” as then current; the concerto's place in the social life of the time; its scoring, or particular use of musical instruments and voices; its means of achieving opposition and contrast (if any); its musical structure; and its output by chief regions and masters.

Origins of the concerto

      The word concerto has given trouble to music historians concerned with word origins because within a century after its first known applications to music, in the early 1500s, it had acquired two meanings that would seem to be mutually exclusive. One meaning still current in Italian is that of “agreement,” or, as in English, of being “in concert.” The other is that of “competing” or “contesting,” from the Latin concerto, -are, -atus (“to contend”). Probably derived from the same Latin word are such related terms as the Italian conserto, concertato, and concertante; the Spanish concierto; the French concert and concertant; and the English consort. Yet it is this dual meaning itself that offers the most tangible thread of unity throughout the four-century history of the concerto in its various forms. In other words, the concerto, in whatever guise it assumes, reveals a continuing need to resolve the antithetical ideas of concord and contest. The balance between contest and concord is the concerto's particular solution to the problem of variety within unity that must be resolved in all dynamic art forms.

      In the 16th century the word concerto embodied several meanings. As early as 1519 in Rome it referred simply to a vocal or instrumental group (un concerto di voci in musica). By 1551 it was used with implications of musical texture, specifically of the contrast of soprano voice with bass and alto (“soprano in concerto col basso & alto”). By 1565 the cognate word concertato was being used in reference to both voices and instruments. And by 1584 a Venetian title, Musica . . . per cantar e sonar in concerti, brought forth the meaning of group presentations or concerts.

      Although in 1578 “concerti” was used to mean the music itself, for both voices and instruments (rather than performers or concerts), the first formal musical title of this sort appeared in 1587. This was the Concerti . . . a 6–16 voci (Concertos . . . in 6 to 16 Parts), a collection of vocal and instrumental music by the Venetian composer Andrea Gabrieli (Gabrieli, Andrea) and his nephew Giovanni Gabrieli. No formal title concerto is known to be given to strictly instrumental music before 1621, and then the word means both “concerted” or “playing together” and “technically [or even ‘virtuosically'] elaborated.” This title, with significant implications of a new style—that of the virtuoso soloist—is the Sonate concertate in stilo moderno (Concerted Sonatas in the Modern Style), by an Italian, Dario Castello, a collection for a violin and for a bassoon that elaborates on the basso continuo part. (The basso continuo, a constant device of Baroque music, calls for a low, sustained-tone instrument—e.g., cello, viola da gamba, bassoon—playing the bass line, plus one or more chordal instruments—e.g., harpsichord, organ, lute—that improvise harmonies above the bass line. Small numbers, or figures, are often placed above the bass line music as a guide to the harmonies, hence the term figured bass.)

      In these early, loosely titled collections by the Gabrielis and by Castello, there can be found at least five of the means of contention or opposition that later became closely identified with the stile concertato or concerto. Listed in their approximate order of evolution, they include opposition between voices and instruments; between one choir and another (whether of voices or instruments); between the essential basso continuo and its melodic elaboration; between simple, straightforward parts and more decorative, virtuoso parts; and between two or more voices or instrumental parts engaged in imitative or motivic interplay.

 Within the span of a century and a half the Baroque era saw the word concerto change from a broad general term applied on several musical levels to a fairly specific term whose meaning had two senses: that of an instrumental group and that of a musical structure or process. Thus in the Gabrielis' early Baroque “Concerti” the title referred to a collection consisting of church motets (motet) (Latin choral compositions) and madrigals (madrigal) (similar Italian compositions) for six to 12 voices in one or two choruses, without and with instruments; a piece for eight voices imitating a battle; and a “Ricercar per sonar” for eight instruments (a ricercar (ricercare) is a piece often based on melodic imitation; sonar means to play instrumentally). By contrast the more than 460 late-Baroque “Concerti” composed by the Italian Antonio Vivaldi (Vivaldi, Antonio) from the first half of the 18th century are purely instrumental works, mostly three-movement cycles (fast–slow–fast) for one to four soloists and strings with or without other orchestral instruments.

      The same century and a half saw a similar narrowing of definition in two closely allied terms: sonata and sinfonia. Before sonata, sinfonia, and concerto became clearly defined and attained a degree of mutual exclusion, they often overlapped and were sometimes even equated in meaning. The full title on one musical manuscript by the Italian Alessandro Stradella, for example, reads, Sonata di viole, cioé per concerto grosso di viole, concertino di due violino e leuto (Sonata for Viols, that is, for Full Complement [concerto grosso] of Viols, and Small Group [concertino] of Two: Violin and Lute). Another reads, Sinfonia per violini e bassi a due concertini distinti (Sinfonia for Violins and Basses in Two Distinct Groups). Many so-called trumpet sonatas of the same period, especially those by Domenico Gabrielli and Giuseppe Jacchini, simply equate the three terms without distinction. When Tommaso Antonio Vitali entitled his Opus 4 Concerto di sonate . . . (published 1701), he evidently meant no more than “A Collection of Sonatas,” for there was only a violin part, a basso continuo part, and the concertate cello part that so often elaborated on the basso continuo. But later, when “Concerto” was crossed off a harpsichord solo by the German composer Johann David Heinichen, copied posthumously in 1731, and “Sonata” was entered in its place, the intention was probably to choose a title more identified with the performing instrument, although the work may well have been transcribed from a concerto.

      It is no wonder, then, that even the traits most basically identified with the concerto can be found in works of other titles. G. Gabrieli wrote works for as many as five opposed choirs of instruments under the title of “Sonata.” The “sonatas” of the German composers Johann Joseph Fux and Georg Muffat have passages actually marked “T.” and “S.” for tutti and soli (soloists) groupings, and, indeed, the tutti–soli principle of contrast still operates strongly in the classical symphonies of Haydn and Mozart. These cross-influences are important reminders that any full history of the concerto idea must take into account not only the concerti in the literature but many works with other titles. Yet in a more concise, encyclopaedic summary it is necessary to stay close to the evolution of the term concerto itself, and there is a real significance in observing how the word acquired definition. The evolution of the word in effect reveals the composers' own developing concepts of it. Concerto was the last of the three terms (sonata, sinfonia, concerto) to attain clear definition. In part this was because the word first had to grow free of its original association with music for both voices and instruments.

The Baroque vocal-instrumental concerto (c. 1585–1650)

      As already suggested, the first category of music to be associated significantly with the term concerto was that of the vocal-instrumental concerto. If this category is sometimes incorporated only incidentally into overall accounts of the concerto, the reasons lie, first, in its lack of clear identification with any one type of musical form and, second, in the longer, more vivid association of all later categories of the concerto with music exclusively for instruments.

      Both the early association of the word with vocal-instrumental combinations and the lack of a clear, identifiable musical form are apparent in the important discussion of the concerto in 1619 by the German composer and theorist Michael Praetorius (Praetorius, Michael) in his Syntagma Musicum (“Writings on Music”). Praetorius classified the concerto, along with the motet and the falsobordone (or simple harmonization of a liturgical reciting tone), among vocal pieces that have a sacred or serious secular text. He recognized the two general, and related, types that were to prevail in the vocal-instrumental concerto. The multivoice type was in more than four parts and typically subdivided into opposing choirs (choral music), especially low versus high choirs. The few-voice type was for one to four parts; often solo parts, and basso continuo; according to Praetorius, this type, which permitted the text to be understood better, was then replacing the madrigal in Italy. Aside from implications of modernism and greater appeal in the concerto and conservatism and greater weightiness in the motet, Praetorius found no distinction between concert, concertos ecclesiasticos, sacras cantiones, sacros concentus, and motettas.

      Praetorius found that the concerto was performed especially in the church and, particularly the few-voiced type, in the monastery. Today one surmises from titles and prefaces to published concerti, from contemporary paintings, and even from the kinds of instruments specified, that the main social breeding ground for the vocal-instrumental concerto was the chapel, above all the court chapel, and the chapel's resources of musicians and instruments were in fact largely those called for by the concerti of the time.

      The distinction that Praetorius drew between the multi-voice, polychoir concerto and the few-voice, soloistic concerto proved to be the most significant distinction throughout the course of the vocal-instrumental concerto. Yet the two types were not independent of each other but were interrelated in their common derivation from the late-Renaissance, polyphonic madrigal and motet. Moreover, they were interdependent. On the one hand, the few-voiced concerto thrived not only on the desire to make the text more understandable and hence more appealing but also on a practical need, in the smaller, less fortunate chapels, to reduce the larger vocal and instrumental groupings to such resources as were available locally (as, for example, during the economizations in Germany brought on by the Thirty Years' War, 1618–48). On the other hand, the polychoir and other larger groupings thrived not only on the desire for more massive, imposing sound but on the opportunity that larger, better staffed chapels provided to expand compositions written for the smaller groupings, whether by adopting alternative scorings that the composer might provide or by improvising other dispositions to suit the immediate place and occasion. There is a clear instance of expanding the scoring in one Gabriele Fattorini's . . . Sacri concerti a due voci . . . (. . . Sacred Concerts for Two Voices . . .). This work appeared originally in 1600 merely “with a basso continuo for the greater convenience of organists” and only two years later was republished “with a new addition of some four-part ripieni [or tutti groupings] to sing in two [opposed] choirs.” A good hint of the improvisatory practices is offered in the Vezzo di perle musicali (1610; Necklace of Musical Pearls), by Adriano Banchieri (Banchieri, Adriano). Banchieri explains that his pieces are arranged so that “the same concerto can be altered in six ways over the basso seguente [a composite bass line taken from the lowest notes in whatever parts], with one or more parts, whether vocal or instrumental.”

      The natural consequence of this much interdependence and interrelationship of the two types, multivoice and few-voice, was their fusion in vocal-instrumental concerti that provided the massive oppositions of the larger groups, the subjective intensity of the soloists, and the opposition between group and soloist. This fusion, especially in Protestant Germany, often with the incorporation of a Protestant chorale, or hymn, substantially influenced the subsequent development of the German cantata, which was frequently based on a chorale and, like the vocal-instrumental concerto, included vocal soloists, choir, and instruments.

 A more specific idea of the Baroque vocal-instrumental concerto might best be given by a brief description of the scoring and nature of six successive, representative examples, running from shortly after the pioneer collection by the Gabrielis in 1587 to a late collection (1650) by the German composer Heinrich Schütz. Banchieri's Concerti ecclesiastici, published in Venice in 1595, consists entirely of eight-part motets for double chorus, with a “score” added for organ. This “score” for this double-chorus collection consisted of the soprano and partially figured bass parts of the first chorus only—a partial score enabling the keyboard player to orient himself. Unlike the Gabrieli collection of concerti, Banchieri's is composed exclusively of sacred texts. By contrast, Lodovico da Viadana's popular and influential Cento concerti ecclesiastici a 1, a 2, a 3, e a 4 voci, con il basso continuo per sonar nell'organo (100 Ecclesiastical Concertos [i.e., motets] for One, Two, Three, and Four Voices, with the Basso Continuo to be Played on the Organ; Venice, 1602) exploits the new style, simpler and more intimate, yet florid and expressive, and including actual monody (solo vocal melody accompanied by expressive harmonies, a type of music new with the Baroque Era). These “concerti” achieve opposition mainly through the polarity of upper part(s) and bass, including such dispositions as two tenors and bass, tenor and two trombones, or two sopranos and two basses. In an important preface, especially treating of the organ part, Viadana argued that the reduction from the multivoice type of motet to these new few-voice “concerti” was made possible by the device of the basso continuo and its realization (i.e., the improvised harmonies), which serve as a filler in lieu of the missing parts. Similar oppositions of high and low parts, but with secular texts and still greater variety, appeared in the Concerto, Settimo libro de madrigali a 1, 2, 3, 4, & 6 voci, con altri generi de canti (Concerto [i.e., ensemble or concert consisting of the], Seventh Book of Madrigals in 1, 2, 3, 4, & 6 Voices [plus basso continuo], with Other Kinds of Songs; Venice, 1619), by the celebrated composer Claudio Monteverdi (Monteverdi, Claudio). Along with two pieces in homophonic, or chordal, style, labelled “Sinfonia,” for five unnamed instruments, the book contains both compositions for smaller groups with virtuosic tendencies in the vocal parts and large pieces employing melodic imitation and suggesting Renaissance polyphony, with its independent melodic lines. An example of the larger type is Con che soavità [With What Gentleness], concertato a una voce e 9 instrumenti (making up three choirs of instruments specified for the viola family and a corpus of bass and filler instruments).

      In the same year (1619), in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, there appeared one of several pertinent collections by Praetorius, Polyhymnia caduceatrix & panegyrica (named after the muse Polyhymnia), “containing 40 concertos of solemn peace and joy” for one to 21 or “more voices, arranged in” two to six choirs, “to be performed and used with all sorts of instruments and human voices, also trumpets and kettledrums.” As Praetorius made clear in his detailed, prefatory instructions and in broader remarks about his concerti in his Syntagma Musicum, his concerti comprise a virtual compendium of the vocal-instrumental concerto in all its uses of voices and instruments and styles of opposition and in all its applications of the Protestant chorale, as well. The German composer Johann Hermann Schein (Schein, Johann Hermann) acknowledged the influence of Viadana's more intimate concerti in the first set of his “sacred concertos,” Opella nova I (1618; Little New Opus). But in his second set (Leipzig, 1626), he turned more to the larger scale styles of Praetorius for three to six voices and basso continuo. Representative is No. 12, Hosianna dem Sohne David (Hosannah to the Son of David), for two sopranos, two tenors, two basses, three bombardi (bass shawms), and basso continuo, with alternating sections of instrumental episodes, tutti in chordal style, and melodic imitation. In addition there are passages for three instrumental or vocal soloists, a combination often already encountered in the popular Baroque trio setting of two high parts over a low part. The last main landmarks of the vocal-instrumental concerto were the three sets of Schütz's (Schütz, Heinrich) Symphoniae sacrae, or Sacred Symphonies (Venice, 1629; Dresden, 1647 and 1650), works that reveal all the variety of treatment to be found in Schein's sacred concerti, except for Schein's interest in the chorale. The first two of Schütz's sets consisted of few-voice settings, mostly one to three voices with one or two obbligato (required solo) instruments and basso continuo. The third set extended to as many as eight parts (some of them optional) and basso continuo; in style it showed a considerable return to the concept of oppositions between choirs, chiefly between vocal and instrumental choirs.

      The composers cited here were the main exponents and the Italian and German chapels were the main centres of the early-Baroque, vocal-instrumental concerto. After giving birth to the genre, Italy soon turned to opera, oratorio, and more independent instrumental forms. The Germans, whose derivation from the Italians was direct and unequivocal, developed the idea further and longer before it largely gave way to the Protestant cantata around the mid-17th century. Yet echoes of the vocal-instrumental concerto are still strong in the cantatas of J.S. Bach and his predecessor Dietrich Buxtehude.

The Baroque concerto grosso (c. 1675–1750)

      Late in the 17th century, within a generation after the vocal-instrumental concerto had last flourished in Germany, the concerto grosso began to assume a clear identity of its own in Italy and soon after in Germany and beyond. Its main ingredients have been noted earlier—the opposition of choirs or choir and soloists, the exchanges of melodic imitation, the trio setting of soloists, and even the use of “concertate” in a title of a purely instrumental work (by Castello). Other purely instrumental precedents of the mature concerto grosso exist in the considerable literature of music for opposing instrumental choirs in numerous “sonatas,” “sinfonias,” and “canzone” (instrumental pieces in several sections), starting with the works of Giovanni Gabrieli. Such anticipations, including the Sinfonia à 8 (i.e., in eight parts; 1618) of one Francesco Usper—a fortuitous, miniature concerto grosso in all but the name—accumulated during the 17th century. Good examples are the orchestral “trumpet sonatas” written in Bologna, Italy, during the second half. But not until the 1670s did the term concerto grosso itself come into general use. It indicated the larger of two contrasting instrumental groups within a composition, and in this sense the term was opposed to concertino (the smaller group), and signified the relation of full orchestra to one or more soloists. By 1698 it appeared as an actual title itself, in the published Concerti grossi . . . , by an Italian, Lorenzo Gregori. That this title did indicate a composite concept (i.e., of opposing instrumental groups) is evidenced by frequent distinctions in prefaces and tables of contents between it (or its shorter equivalent, “Concerti”) and the sinfonia or sonata. As one example, the Sinfonie a tre e concerti a quattro (Sinfonias in Three Parts and Concertos in Four Parts, Opus 5; 1692), by the Italian violinist and composer Giuseppe Torelli makes a distinction not only in the number of parts but in the style: between a dense, polyphonic, older style in the sinfonias, often performed with only one player to a part, and a newer, more open style in the concerti, suitable to multiple (orchestral) performance of the parts. As another example, whereas the German Georg Muffat (Muffat, Georg) had already called attention to the tuttisoli dispositions in his five orchestral “Sonate” of 1682, when he republished these in 1701 with revisions he changed the title of each to “Concerto.”

Social function of the concerto grosso

      The social function of the concerto grosso was explicitly stated in 1701 by Muffat, who was as articulate about the secular concerto grosso and its performance as Praetorius had been about the sacred vocal-instrumental concerto:

These concertos [in his Ausserlesene . . . Instrumental-Music or, Selected . . . Instrumental Music], suited neither to the church (because of the ballet airs and airs of other sorts which they include) nor for dancing (because of other interwoven conceits, now slow and serious, now gay and nimble, and composed only for the express refreshment of the ear), may be performed most appropriately in connection with entertainments given by great princes and lords, for receptions of distinguished guests, and at state banquets, serenades, and assemblies of musical amateurs and virtuosi. (As translated in Oliver Strunk's Source Readings in Music History, W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1950, p. 449.)

      The breeding ground of the concerto, therefore, was no longer the chapel but the court. From the standpoint of the local court administrator the concerto grosso offered certain economic as well as functional advantages, advantages that might even help to account for its predominance in Baroque instrumental music. The opposition of a full orchestra, playing relatively simple parts, to a few soli, playing more difficult, even virtuosic parts, made it possible to entrust the full-orchestra parts to relative novices in the court entourage, often to servants who could play in addition to their other duties. Thus, only a few solo parts had to be played by experts hired primarily as professional musicians. This practical advantage can be argued only while the distinction between simple and difficult parts prevailed. The distinction became less clear as the concerto matured, at least in works with one or more soloists.

Orchestration

      Fundamental not only to the scoring but to the style, and even the musical structure of the Baroque concerto, was the opposition between the full orchestra, or concerto grosso (also called tutti, or ripieno), and the concertino (also called soli, or principale). A full complement of strings, usually two to four on a part, often sufficed for the “full orchestra,” in addition to the one to three instruments needed to play and realize the basso continuo. Usually at least a low melody instrument, bowed or blown, and a chordal instrument, plucked or keyed, were used for the basso continuo. The same trio setting that had been popular from the start of the century, typically two violins and a cello, often served as the concertino. When the concertino was not playing soli passages it figured as part of the concerto grosso. Illustrative of these typical settings is the celebrated Christmas Concerto (Opus 6, No. 8; 1714), by the Italian violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli (Corelli, Arcangelo). The basso continuo sometimes rested while the concertino played (a frequent procedure in Vivaldi's concerti). One significant consequence of the tutti–soli relationship and its opposition of weighty and light masses of sound was a tendency to sharpen the contrast with the popular Baroque device of “terrace dynamics,” or blocks of contrasting loud and soft sound. This occurred especially in the echo effect of a soli passage played piano after a tutti passage played forte. To this dynamic contrast might be added the rhythmic contrast between steady, solid beats in the tutti and more intricate, quicker figures in the soli, growing out of that same tendency toward simplicity, on the one hand, and virtuosity, on the other. Furthermore, not only all of the melodic ornamentation but also most of the passagework were ordinarily given to the soli rather than the tutti. When the tutti strings were augmented by wind instruments and the concertino was reduced to two players or only one (resulting in the first solo concerti), all these oppositions became that much more pronounced. Attention may be called, too, to the artful highlighting of the contrasts through different spacing—that is, through varied alternations of the two groups, now frequent, now less frequent after longer passages.

      These several means of contrast provided by motive interplay hardly exhaust the sources of variety to be found in the Baroque concerto grosso. Much variety is achieved in another of its basic kinds of opposition or competition. This is the motivic (or imitative) interplay between parts that is so characteristic of the stile concertato, or concerted style.

 Such interplay may occur either between tutti and soli choirs or entirely within a succession of single instrumental parts in the full orchestra. In fact, there are numerous Baroque “concerti” that thrive primarily on the latter style of continuity, without any tutti–soli designations at all (for example, Bach's (Bach, Johann Sebastian) Brandenburg Concerto No. 3). The employment of motivic interplay offers certain inherent contrasts of its own. These include shifts from one high or low range to another within a texture of interwoven melodies: rhythmic conflicts based on patterns that do not necessarily coincide with the regular musical metre; and an almost continuous change of key. The last is achieved by rapid successions of modulations (bridges from key to key) and drives to the cadence; i.e., building up of tension in the harmonies (harmony) used, culminating and relaxing in the cadence, or stopping point. In fast movements, when the propelling force is not such motivic interplay, it is likely to be a force achieved by outright statements of musical figures based on chords and scales. Or it may be an unfolding succession of figures together with the harmonic drive to the cadence. In slow movements it is likely to be compelling progressions of chords, enhanced by melodic (melody) ornamentation and enlivened by continual suspensions, dissonances, and resolutions (i.e., by suspending single notes while the harmony around them changes; this creates dissonance, the tension of harmonies that seem to clash; the tension is “resolved” when the harmonies change again).

      In spite of all this variety there are consistencies of style in the scoring and musical textures just described. In addition, certain additional rhythmic (rhythm) and melodic traits help further to bring a sense of overall unity to the concerto grosso. With regard to rhythmic traits, a steady motoric pulse is likely to prevail throughout the fast movements. Also, true to the nature of the ever-present basso continuo, a steady running bass line is likely to underlie both the slow and the fast movements.

Theme and structure

      With regard to melodic traits, one cannot ordinarily speak of “main and contrasting themes” as in the classical and later concerto. One reason is the lack of individuality in the main thematic ideas. Corelli's and Vivaldi's themes, vigorous as they may be rhythmically, hardly stand out melodically from the remaining music. Like the musical context in which they occur, the themes themselves are likely to consist of chord notes, scales, or simple repeated notes. Frequently they are announced in unison (all parts playing the same notes) and thus lack a strong initial association with the harmonies of an accompaniment. Bach is exceptional for the individuality of his themes, especially in the finales, where they are usually out-and-out tunes, memorable and fetching (as in his Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042). The less a melodic idea stands out, the less it functions as a true “theme” or unifier when it recurs and the less it can contrast with any of the other melodic ideas.

      Such relatively neutral themes and motives, which unfold more as supplements than as contrasts, seem to have satisfied most Baroque, especially North German, tastes, including the express preference for limiting any one piece or movement to but one “Affekt” (or characteristic emotion). In addition, and more important for musical continuity, the themes, such as they are, do tend to recur, not only at the more local level of melodic imitation and motivic interplay but also at certain strategic points in the musical structure. Their recurrence, most often at the three or four main tonal landmarks, imparts at least a vague overall outline of formal musical structure. In fact, these strategic recurrences, plus the melodic imitations, the passagework, and the adjunct musical themes that separate them, produce in a loose way the most prevalent structural principle of the fast movements. This is the rondo principle, which is based on the alternation of a refrain, or “ritornello,” with contrasting musical passages. In the more tuneful finales, or final movements, the sense of a rondo “ ritornello” is most distinct (as in Handel's Opus 6, No. 11). Generally, the alternations of refrains and intervening episodes tally with alternations of the tutti and soli groups, respectively.

      Recurring melodic ideas account for two other of the most frequent principles of musical structure in the concerto grosso, those of fugue and of variation. A fugue is based on the polyphonic treatment (through extensive melodic imitation) of a recurring subject, or theme. In fugal sections of a concerto grosso, tutti and soli unite as one group or alternate in expositions (statements of the subject) and episodes (passages in which the subject appears only fragmentarily, if at all). The fugal style occurs largely in fast movements and varies from loose applications, especially among the Italians, to strict ones, especially among the Germans. The variation process depends on continual variation of a constant factor, such as a theme or a group of harmonies. In the concerto grosso it occurs largely in slow movements; its constant factor is a simple, freely recurring bass line, or ostinato (a short, repeated motive or melody). The ostinato often sounds alone in the tutti and may be played in unison at the beginning and end of the movement. It serves as a foil for the soli parts, which sometimes enter successively on long tones and gradually unfold into decorative, expressive passages (as in Bach's Violin Concerto No. 2). When the ostinato's recurrences are free enough and the bass line and treble melody of the tutti stand out enough, the effect is that of an expressive aria (solo song, as in an opera) with a firm prelude and postlude (as in Vivaldi's Opus 3, No. 8), providing one of the many hints of operatic influences in the concerto grosso. To these structural types—rondo, fugue, and variation—may be added especially the binary design, with each half repeated, that prevails in Baroque dances. In binary form, the music of the first half moves from the tonic key to a closely related key. The second half begins in the new key and progresses back to the original key. Dances abound in concerti grossi, not only in those that are primarily orchestral suites or groups of related dance pieces (as are many by Handel) but in others as well. For instance, the finale of Corelli's Opus 6, No. 3, although headed only “Allegro,” is a fine example of a binary gigue (a courtly dance ultimately derived from the jig).

      The number of movements in the concerto grosso varies more than in the later solo concerto or in the sinfonia, symphony, and sonata at any time after the concerto grosso's emergence. But the average may be put at from three to five. Corelli and other Italian pioneers had led off with more movements (insofar as separate movements can be distinguished from mere sectional changes in their concerti). Vivaldi reduced the number, mostly by omitting an initial slow movement that his predecessors had probably derived from the French overture. Instead, Vivaldi largely settled on and, in fact, standardized the cycle at three movements in fast–slow–fast order. He may have been influenced by the same cycle in the Italian opera sinfonia (or overture). The Germans seem to have varied the number more, with the most movements likely to be made up of relatively short dances. Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos do follow the fast–slow–fast plan except that Number 1 adds two dances and No. 3 leaves out the slow movement, simply substituting in its place two slow chords that create a feeling of suspension. Handel's Twelve Grand Concertos in Opus 6 contain four to six movements that vary considerably in order and type.

      As usual in tonal music (music based on the system of major and minor keys), additional variety within unity is achieved in the cycle of concerto grosso movements through departure from and return to the home key. Much more often than in the suite, a slow inner movement is placed in a nearly related key. In the shortest, freest slow movements the tonality, or key orientation, sometimes remains uncertain and in flux, giving the sense of a bridge from the previous to the following movement (as in Vivaldi's Opus 3, No. 10). Unlike the Baroque suite and sonata, in the concerto the use of interrelated musical themes is not a frequent means of linking the movements. But the concerto grosso is like these other cycles in its dynamic tendency to progress from the more serious to the lighter movements. Infrequently a “program (program music)”—a story or nonmusical image—lends further unity to the cycle, as it does in the four concerti of Vivaldi's Opus 8 that are known collectively as The Four Seasons. Each of these concerti is tied closely to a sonnet describing one of the seasons. More often a special unity results from some unusual trait of musical style or use of an instrument. An example is the brilliant solo part given, exceptionally, to the “cembalo concertato” (i.e., a harpsichord that participates with the other instruments in the melodic discourse rather than, as is normal, confining itself to the realization of the basso continuo) in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.

Major contributions

      Like the vocal-instrumental concerto before it, the concerto grosso originated and reached a first peak in Italy, then attained a further peak in Germany. French and English centres responded more than they contributed to it. Again, some of the main landmarks may be briefly noted. The 12 concerti grossi in Opus 6 by Corelli were not first published until 1714, the year after he died. Although they were preceded in print by other pioneer examples, like those of Torelli (from 1698), Tomaso Albinoni (from 1700), and even Vivaldi (from 1712), some of them may have been among the “several concertos” by Corelli that Muffat had already heard in Rome by 1682. Corelli still made the loose distinction, best known in the 17th-century sonata (trio sonata), between da chiesa and da camera—that is, church and court-style, or serious and light. The first eight of his concerti grossi are da chiesa (church-style), in four to seven movements, the last four da camera (court-style), in five movements. A trio setting of two violins and cello is specified for the concertino, and two violins, viola, and bass for the concerto grosso, “which may be doubled as desired.” Between the two groups the opposition is not an antiphony of musical ideas but only a change of musical texture and sonority in the continuous unfolding of the short, tasteful, well-proportioned movements.

      Vivaldi's more than 460 “Concerti” (written from about 1710 to 1740) bring the Italian contribution to full maturity, and they rank Vivaldi with his contemporaries Bach and Handel among the greatest masters of the concerto grosso. The maturity is marked by larger forms and broader musical architecture, including tighter organization of the rondo principle, and by more distinctive, energetic musical themes, at least rhythmically if not melodically. There is also greater brilliance and exploitation of idiomatic instrumental techniques, including bariolage (quick shifts from string to string) and broken chords for the solo violin. Another characteristic is the standardization, as noted earlier, of the three-movement cycle, fast–slow–fast. But if the cycle becomes standardized, with only infrequent exceptions, very little else is predictable about Vivaldi's imaginative, resourceful concerti. Least predictable of all is the scoring, which makes highly varied combinations of string and wind instruments—for example, a tutti of strings with cello and bassoon as the soli; or two oboes, two horns, bassoon, and violin as the soli; or viola d'amore (a violin-like instrument) and lute as the soli.

      Starting with Muffat's concerti done under Corelli's immediate guidance, the spread of the instrumental concerto from Italy to Germany was as direct and wide as that of the vocal-instrumental concerto had been. French influences in Germany were considerable, too, especially where the suite touched the concerto. This was often true in the large, resourceful, and highly varied output of the German Georg Philipp Telemann. In Bach's approximately 25 concerti (about 1720–35) Italian influences are especially evident, quite apart from his unusual setting for harpsichord alone specifically entitled Concerto in the Italian Style. Again, Italian influence is reflected in the many concerti by Vivaldi and others that Bach transcribed and reworked for harpsichord or for organ. A rare opportunity to learn what mattered most to Bach in concerto structure is provided by a study of his changes in the Vivaldi models. Such changes include themes sharpened melodically and musical textures enriched by the addition of new melodic entries to contrapuntal passages or by more intensive interplay of musical motives. The designs of the musical forms themselves are pointed up by insertions of new musical material, deletions, and altered timing of phrases and entries. Bach summed up the Baroque concerto as he did the cantata, fugue, and other Baroque genres. Besides the transcriptions and the magnificent six Brandenburg Concertos, with all their own varieties of scoring, he left concerti in which the solo requirements are one violin; two violins; flute, violin, and harpsichord; violin and oboe; one harpsichord; two harpsichords; three harpsichords; and four harpsichords. The majority of the harpsichord concerti are further transcriptions and reworkings, some not yet tracked to their sources. For example, two of seven solo harpsichord concerti come from Bach's own solo violin concerti, and the concerto for four harpsichords comes from Vivaldi's Opus 3, No. 10, for four violins. These concerti, like the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 already noted, emphasize Bach's priority in giving the harpsichord prominence as a concerto solo instrument.

      Handel (Handel, George Frideric) left around 35 concerti in all (about 1715–50), including three sets of organ concerti with oboe and strings; one set for strings and winds (Opus 3); one set in the tutti–soli setting for strings alone (Opus 6) that Corelli had used; and several concerti not in sets. Among the last are two works more properly classified in his day as trio sonatas (works usually for two violins and basso continuo but sometimes for orchestra). Transcriptions and reworkings figure in many of Handel's concerti, as in Bach's. Handel's concerto style, like that of his chief contemporary in England, the Italian violinist-composer Francesco Geminiani, is more progressive than Bach's in its frequent French dance influences and in its more open, less complex musical textures. Although imposing fugues can be found, the prevailing atmosphere in Handel's concerti is more often that of light, wide-spaced chamber music. Thanks to his unmatched skill, imagination, good timing, and almost childlike enthusiasm, there is also a feeling of extraordinary vitality, robustness, and breadth in the concerti, especially in the finest of the sets, the Twelve Grand Concertos (that is, concerti grossi as translated then), Opus 6. The exploitation of the tutti–soli opposition is less in Opus 3, although the instrumental scoring is more restricted in Opus 6. But in both sets the variety of instrumental combinations is exceptional, even from movement to movement. In Opus 3, No. 2, for example, the soli change from two oboes and two violins to solo oboe, then to two oboes doubling two violins and a viola, further to two oboes and two violins not doubled, and finally to two oboes and cello. Much as Bach had transcribed concerti for organ alone to serve as introductions to cantatas, so Handel played his own original and transcribed concerti for organ and orchestra as introductions and entr'actes in his oratorios. These organ concerti were widely copied by minor followers of Handel in England. Nothing in France close to Handel's level can be pointed to until near the end of the era, when a violinist and composer, Jean-Marie Leclair, produced his solo concerti.

      In the opening of this article “concerto” was defined as it is thought of first today—that is, in the sense that has prevailed since about 1750. Essential to that definition is the interrelation of orchestra and soloist, not soli. Whereas a concertino of soli had been the norm before 1750, with a single soloist being a variant or reduction of the concertino idea, the single soloist became the norm after 1750. As a result two or more soloists became the exception in what has since become known as “double concerto,” “triple concerto,” and so on. Because the concerto since 1750 has been likened to the sonata (again, as in the opening definition), it is often distinguished as the “sonata concerto,” although the same could have been done with at least as much justification, especially because of the confusions of terms noted earlier, for the concerto before 1750. More justified, in spite of all the exceptions, might be the designations “solo concerto” for the later type and “orchestral concerto” (or concerto grosso) for the earlier type. The concerto grosso may be said to have dissolved into the solo concerto and the sinfonia concertante. The second term was Mozart's designation for certain concerti with more than one soloist, but it has also been used for symphonies that still reveal the imitative interplay of the concerto grosso or that employ the tutti–soli rondo principle. There are differences between the earlier solo part, which was a minimal concertino, and the later solo part, which was a self-sufficient adversary to the orchestra. There is also a difference in scoring between the two types of concerto, for at the time that the concerto grosso was being replaced by the solo concerto the basso continuo was falling into disuse. In addition there is a difference of degree, with a sharp increase of independence and virtuosity in the soloist's part in the later form of the concerto.

The Classical concerto (c. 1750–1830)

      Since 1750 the concerto has found its chief place in society not in church or at court but in the concert hall. Some of the excitement it could arouse in classical musical life is recaptured in the Mozart (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus) family letters. Mozart's introduction of a new piano concerto (K. 456?) in a Vienna theatre concert was reported by his father on February 16, 1785:

. . . your brother played a glorious concerto, . . . I was sitting [close] . . . and had the great pleasure of hearing so clearly all the interplay of the instruments that for sheer delight tears came into my eyes. When your brother left the platform the Emperor waved his hat and called out “Bravo, Mozart!” And when he came on to play there was a great deal of clapping. (As translated by Emily Anderson, The Letters of Mozart and His Family, 2d. ed. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1966.)

      The solo concerto was the main concert vehicle for composer-performers such as Mozart and for itinerant virtuosos like the Italian violinist Antonio Lolli, whose incessant crisscrossing of all Europe scarcely can be reconciled with the incredibly bad travel conditions that still prevailed. A secondary place for the solo concerto has been in the realm of musical instruction. Although the category of “student concerto” to which certain works have been relegated seems largely to associate with the 19th century, a good many classical concerti evidently served that purpose too. Thus, Mozart, who wrote his latest, finest, and most difficult concerti for his own concert appearances, earlier wrote easier ones to be used mainly in teaching. The concerto also had an occasional place in the theatre, as evidenced by the fact that the Italian composer Francesco Maria Veracini played concerto movements as entr'actes during operatic performances.

      The strings remained the nucleus, though less often the whole, of the tutti in the solo concerto. But now the more equivoice setting of the string quartet gradually superseded the polarity of the basso continuo and the melody or concertante parts. Moreover, the tutti was no longer reinforced by the solo instrument in the tutti passages, as it had been in the concerto grosso, for the solo became exclusively a solo part. Though optional instrumentation disappeared insofar as the choice of instruments for the old basso continuo was concerned, the free use of what instruments were available still applied to the wind parts of the usual concerto tutti throughout most of the 18th century. The instrumental colour of solo concerti, up to Mozart's mature works, was therefore relatively neutral, without particular refinement or individuality caused by specifically exploiting the tone colours of the instruments. On the other hand, the solo part became increasingly individualized in the solo concerto as a result of the further exploitation of spectacular playing techniques. Accordingly, the music of the solo part became highly idiomatic for the chosen instrument; that is, it was calculated to take most advantage of the characteristic sound and techniques particular to that instrument. Solo violin parts in particular had already reached heights of virtuosity during the overlap between the Baroque and Classical eras. Such works were scarcely surpassed before the most brilliant writing of the violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini and his successors in the Romantic era. Examples may be found in abundance in the solo violin concerti of Leclair and the Italians Pietro Locatelli, Veracini, and Giuseppe Tartini. Most of these works, especially Tartini's, have real musical distinction, rooted as they are in an important heritage from Torelli, Albinoni, and Vivaldi in Italy and Johann Georg Pisendel, Telemann, and Bach in Germany.

Role of the piano

      Yet, from the 1780s and the peak of the Classical era, and despite a continuing if limited output of concerti for the cello, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, it was no longer the violin or any of these instruments that ranked first among solo instruments of the concerto. Rather it was the newly emerging piano, which was rapidly superseding the harpsichord and clavichord. Mozart, who with the London-centred, Italian-born Muzio Clementi was one of the first great pianists, wrote not only some of the first but some of the greatest concerti the instrument has yet known. Two generations earlier, Bach's more limited exploitation of the keyboard in his harpsichord concerti had already shown what a stalwart adversary a keyboard instrument could be in the concerto contest. Now, with the greater independence of the solo part and the greater self-sufficiency of a keyboard part, both the drama and the variety of the tutti–solo opposition could be increased considerably. As for the variety, either orchestra or soloist might perform alone, either might carry the theme while the other accompanied, or the two might share in the theme by doubling, by antiphony (alternating with each other in playing phrases of the theme), or by more rapid interchange and alternation. Thus, Mozart's popular Concerto in A Major, K. 488, begins with an extended orchestral tutti without soloist, after which the solo piano enters on a restatement of the main theme, lightly and intermittently accompanied by the strings alone. Another tutti, this time short, leads into a modulatory (key-changing) bridge consisting of rapid piano scales that elaborate on harmonies given in simpler notes in the tutti. The piano now enters alone on a second theme, then decorates snatches of the theme as the orchestra restates it an octave higher. So the work unfolds in a kaleidoscope of ingenious, fresh settings.

Movement cycles and forms

      The standard cycle of three movements, fast–slow–fast, became even more standardized in the Classical era. It occurred without notable exception in the concerti of that era's three greatest masters, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Beethoven, Ludwig van). Furthermore, the outer movements are generally predictable, too, at least in their overall plans. “Sonata form” is approximated in the opening movements. In the finales, apart from an occasional minuet (a dance form) in Haydn's concerti, the prevalent forms are rondo and sonata-rondo (which combines the recurrent refrain of the rondo with the exposition-development principle of the sonata). The middle movements are only a little less predictable, with A B A design being far in the majority (as in Mozart's Concerto in D Minor, K. 466). Forms such as the dialogue-like fantasy in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Opus 58, or the free variations in his Violin Concerto are late-Classical or pre-Romantic exceptions. But, of course, these masterworks are no stereotypes. They find their variety and distinctions in the details and working out of the forms. At most, “sonata form” in the Classical era was not yet the conscious concept or crystallized design that later textbooks have made it out to be. Its thematic organization in particular was still fluid and certainly not bound to any fixed number of themes or any fixed dualism of “masculine” and “feminine” themes. Textbook discussions of the solo concerto say that the tutti plays the exposition first, all in the tonic key, after which the soloist joins to repeat it, this time more elaborately and with the contrasting theme in a nearly related key. But that concept of the strict “double exposition” is honoured as much in the breach as the observance.

      Actually, the application of “sonata form” was likely to be freer, even looser, in the concerto than in the symphony or string quartet. In part this was because of the extensive passagework that is inherent in the virtuosity and idiomatic treatment of the solo instrument. This passagework and the loose treatment of the musical form reach their extreme in a terminal cadenza of the first movement, more so than in the shorter cadenzas likely to be found at one or more focal points in the other movements. The cadenza had already been introduced in late-Baroque violin concerti, undoubtedly influenced by singers' florid, improvised embellishments of arias in current opera, although early instrumental precedents exist, too. The concerto's cadenza was generally improvised (improvisation) by the performer until Beethoven insisted on the use of his own short cadenzas as supplied in Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat Major, Opus 73. Many later performers have found too little opportunity for technical display in other cadenzas that the masters previously had left for optional performance in some of their own concerti. The dissatisfied performers often substituted more brilliant cadenzas in such cases. But the structural looseness of the cadenza becomes less tolerable when the virtuoso performer goes to later sources or composes new cadenzas that are anachronistic in their technical and harmonic style, out of proportion in length, and inadequately related to the musical themes of the movement.

Major contributions

      As with both the vocal and the instrumental concerto of the Baroque era, the starting point for the solo concerto in the Classical era lies in Italian music. But this time more weight must be attached to the evolution of the concerto in Germany and Austria. In these countries, there lies the more significant development, that of the piano concerto, as cultivated by the chief Classical masters.

      The transition to the lighter texture and more fragmented musical thoughts of the pre-Classical “gallant style” may be credited in part to the Italian string concerti, notably those of Tartini, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Luigi Boccherini, and Giovanni Battista Viotti. But the one piano concerto that Boccherini may have left about 1768, along with several cello concerti, and the very few concerti that Clementi in England supposedly converted to solo piano sonatas hardly make any niche for Italian composers in the history of the piano concerto. The full exploitation of the piano in the concerto and the creation of more substantial, consequential concerti for it must be credited primarily to two of J.S. Bach's sons and to the high-Classical Viennese triumvirate of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Whereas Wilhelm Friedemann Bach had largely followed his father in his half dozen concerti for harpsichord, strings, and basso continuo, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel) opened new paths in about 50 keyboard concerti, as well as some violin concerti and flute concerti. This is especially true of his later concerti intended for the piano (1772) rather than the harpsichord. Original instrumentation, dialogue between piano and orchestra, bold flights and expressive recitatives, are among the characteristics of Emanuel's concerti. So also are final movements that resemble in character the lively musical and dramatic development at the end of an act of opera buffa (Italian comic opera).

      By contrast, Johann Christian Bach's 37 harpsichord or piano concerti from the same period are lighter, more fluent, easier works aimed at amateur skills and tastes. Most of them, like his sonatas but unlike most of his 31 sinfonie concertante, have only two movements, the finale often being a minuet or set of variations. The anticipations of Mozart's style are unmistakable.

      Haydn (Haydn, Joseph) left 36 concerti that can be verified, spanning the years from about 1755 to 1796; for violin (four); cello (five); bass; horn (four); hurdy-gurdy, or wheel fiddle (five); trumpet; flute; oboe; baryton, a cello-like instrument (three); and keyboard (11, whether for organ, harpsichord, or piano). In 1792 he also wrote a sinfonia concertante for violin, oboe, cello, bassoon, and full orchestra that returns to the tutti–soli relationships of the concerto grosso. The keyboard concerti bear witness in their unenterprising, sometimes pedestrian handling of the solo part that Haydn was no distinguished keyboardist. Even the best known of them, the Piano Concerto in D Major (1784), is heard today more in education than in concert circles, in spite of its musical strengths, especially in the “Rondo all'Ungherese” (“Rondo in the Hungarian style”). The one concerto by Haydn that is widely performed in today's concert world is an admirable, sonorous work for cello, in D major (1783, once attributed to the German cellist Anton Kraft). Cast in the usual three movements, with clear thematic ties between them and accompanied only by the usual orchestra in eight parts (four strings, two oboes, two horns), this work is variously songful, brilliant to a taxing degree, and dancelike. Another important contribution by Haydn was his last concerto (1796), a resourceful and difficult work in E-flat major that exploited the new keyed trumpet, which unlike earlier trumpets was capable of playing diatonic (seven-note) and chromatic (12-note) scales.

      During his short career, Mozart left about 45 verifiable concerti dating from 1773 to his last year, 1791. These do not include five early piano concerti arranged from concerto or sonata movements written by Emanuel and Christian Bach and two lesser composers. Out of the total, there are 21 for piano, six for violin, five for horn, two for flute, and one each for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, flute, and harp, two pianos, three pianos, and two violins (called Concertone). Two further examples, entitled “Sinfonia concertante,” are for violin and viola, and for a concertino of oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. Best known and most played are five of the last eight solo piano concerti (K. 466, 467, 488, 491, and 595), which rank among the finest of his works and the best of the genre. Highly valued and often played, too, are the Sinfonia concertante in E Flat Major for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, K. 364, E. 320d, and the Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, E. 316a. Two of the violin concerti are well-known (K. 218 in D major and K. 219 in A major), although more so to students than to concertgoers. Among those five solo piano concerti, that in D minor (K. 466) reveals a new urgency and compactness in Mozart's writing, reflecting the atmosphere of the Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) period in German art, except in the naïvely charming “Romance” that is the middle movement. One among many instances of the striking tutti–solo contrasts in this work is the reservation of certain material, including the soloist's initial theme, for the soloist alone. The Concerto in C Major, K. 467, is a more cheerful work, broad and stately in its opening ideas, bubbling with intriguing melodic figuration, and capped by one of Mozart's most delectable rondos. The Concerto in A Major, K. 488, is rich in wistful songlike melodies. The spun-out line of the middle movement, in the rhythm of the siciliano (an Italian dance), makes an ideal foil for the gay, tuneful “Presto” that follows. Like the D-minor concerto, that in C minor (K. 491) is an intense work, more extended but even more driving. Mozart's last concerto for solo piano, that in B-flat major (K. 595), is another masterpiece, ever fresh in its ideas, yet with an air of sweet resignation in its almost neoclassical simplicity.

 The much smaller output of concerti by Beethoven, anticipating the still smaller outputs by his 19th-century successors, is not surprising in view of the wider range of expression, further exploration of instrumental resources, and greater size of his concerti. There are nine complete works in all. These include seven with piano—the so-called standard five (1795–1809) plus one more from his boyhood and another, using chorus as well as orchestra, that is seldom performed, oddly constructed, and almost unclassifiable (Choral Fantasia, Opus 80, first performed 1808). Further, there is the Violin Concerto in D major (1806) and a worthy, but much less successful, Triple Concerto in C Major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Opus 56 (1804). One could hardly find a wider range of expression than that between the third, fourth, and fifth (Emperor) piano concerti. Reduced to capsule, subjective terms, the third, in C minor, must be characterized as compelling drama, hushed serenity, and feverish drive in its respective movements; the fourth as joyous lyricism, stark tragedy, and scintillating gaiety; and the fifth as heroic grandeur, noble dignity, and victorious rejoicing. The opening tutti sections may be taken as samples of the wide variety of musical structure in these same three concerti. In the third, the tutti extends the exposition of the themes by developing or discussing each after it is first stated. The solo enters almost at once, with only a short flourish, on the main theme. In the fourth concerto, the piano begins alone with a short, refreshingly simple pronouncement of the main theme, followed immediately by a surprising, tangential entrance of the orchestra. There unfolds a full exposition that discusses each theme even more than in the third concerto. This time the solo enters for the repeated exposition only after a more extended flourish, lasting 15 measures. In the last concerto, the soloist begins by embellishing each of the three primary harmonies in the orchestra with a separate cadenza. Only after this opening does there begin a complete tutti exposition that, in its discussion of the themes, is still more developed than in the fourth concerto. Not until the orchestral exposition is ended does the solo enter again to begin its highly virtuosic elaboration in a repeated exposition. It is such development throughout all parts of the musical forms, and not only in the “development sections,” that accounts for the great lengths of Piano Concerto No. 5 and the Violin Concerto. Notable are the exceptional technical difficulties in these two peerless masterpieces, which grow as much out of their musical complexities as out of the composer's evident desire to reveal new ways to utilize his solo instruments (especially the rapidly advancing piano, with its wider range, heavier action, and bigger tone).

The Romantic era (c. 1790–1915)

      Between the Romantic and the Classical concerto there occurred no such marked, relatively abrupt changes in form or style as were observed earlier here between the Classical and the Baroque concerto. The onset of the Romantic era was not signalled by any shift in the concerto's musical structure. Thus there was no stylistic change equivalent to the shift from the polyphonic interplay of short motives in the concerto grosso to the solo concerto's grouping of longer musical phrases in homophonic style (based on chords). Nor was there any shift in instrumental texture equivalent to that from the polarity of basso continuo and melody parts to a more equal distribution of voices or parts. Nor again was there any shift from the piano to another instrument as the preferred solo vehicle.

      As with much other Romantic music, the Romantic concerto was marked by an extension or expansion of those same Classical trends in all directions. This development led eventually to their exaggeration and ultimately to their extremes or breaking points. The concerto as a genre became more than ever the ideal showpiece at public concerts, doing much for the composer's profit, the performer's triumph, and the listener's delectation. Indeed, Franz Liszt (Liszt, Franz), the dominant composer-pianist of his time, distinguished between the concerto and the sonata, calling the first a public showpiece and the second a private, personal expression (in 1838, while questioning a publisher's title, Concerto Without Orchestra, for the Opus 14 of Robert Schumann, a title changed to Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor). Over the century, several 19th-century concerti won more popularity than was accorded to any earlier concerti. Time has influenced that preference but little, to judge from a listing, in order of popularity, of the 15 piano concerti most played in major U.S. concerts in the late 1960s: Beethoven No. 5, Tchaikovsky No. 1, Brahms No. 2, Beethoven No. 3, (Prokofiev No. 3, Modern era), Schumann, Rachmaninoff No. 2, Mozart K. 595, Grieg, Beethoven No. 4, Camille Saint-Saëns No. 2, Brahms No. 1, Chopin No. 2, Beethoven No. 1, and Liszt No. 1 (from statistics compiled by Broadcast Music Industries).

Orchestration (instrumentation)

 Another expansion of Classical trends is seen in the concerto orchestra, with the larger number, greater variety, and more discriminating use of its instruments. It is true that only the thinnest possible “support” for the soloist sufficed for composer-performers such as the pianist Chopin (Chopin, Frédéric), the violinist Paganini, and others whose musical thinking ranged but little beyond the spheres of their own instruments. But the orchestra developed the status of a genuine if not superior adversary of the soloist in newly resourceful orchestrations by composers of wider instrumental perspective. Examples of this exploitation of the orchestra include Harold en Italie (1834), a symphony with solo viola, by the French composer Hector Berlioz; Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major (published 1857), by Liszt; and Burleske (completed 1885) for piano and orchestra, by the German Richard Strauss. At the same time, the piano, as the ideal Romantic instrument, secured ever more firmly its Classical preeminence as the preferred solo vehicle of the concerto. Although the total output of violin concerti in particular was very great, there was a decided preponderance of piano concerti among all concerti that appeared on printed public concert programs. In turn, the use of the piano in concerti was one main incentive for further advances in piano construction. By the mid-19th century the instrument reached a peak very close to the sonorous, seven-octave, triple-strung, cast-iron framed behemoth that is the modern “concert grand.” With its perfection came also the extension of keyboard technique to the last reaches of athletic dexterity. Evidence of such technical development includes the unreasonably difficult requirements of the three etudes (“studies”) that comprise the huge unaccompanied Concerto, Opus 39, Nos. 8–10, by the French pianist-composer Alkan (Alkan, Valentin) (Charles-Henri Morhange). It is also apparent in the more reasonable but no less difficult requirements in Rachmaninoff's (Rachmaninoff, Sergey) Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Opus 30 (1909). The wind instruments used in concerto solos underwent mechanical advances, too, and both they and the stringed instruments enjoyed analogous exploitations of their technical possibilities in this century of virtuosos—not only of Liszt (and so many more) on the piano but of others such as Paganini on the violin, Alfredo Piatti on the cello, and Domenico Dragonetti on the double bass.

Romantic innovations

      The most significant extension or expansion of the concerto principle in the Romantic era might in one sense be called a contraction, for it concerns a continuing effort to consolidate, interrelate, and fuse the over-all cycle, both within and between the movements. Certain composers, mostly forgotten perfunctories, yet including as important and successful a figure as Chopin, were satisfied to pour new wine into old bottles. Thus many concerti accepted without question the movement forms and cycle that by then had become self-conscious stereotypes, especially “sonata form” in the first movement. Brahms largely preferred to accept the traditional cycle and forms, too, but with the masterful individuality, flexibility, and logic that were needed to revitalize them. On the other hand, most of the Romantics whose concerti are still played sought to modernize and advance the traditional structural principles. These changes may be summed up in six categories.

      First, there is the elimination, in the opening movement, of the long initial tutti section. This innovation corresponded to the elimination in the sonata of the previously customary repeat of the exposition, a change that had begun in Beethoven's late sonatas and had soon become general. Such is the pattern in Schumann's (Schumann, Robert) Piano Concerto in A Minor, Opus 54 (1845), in which the soloist enters at the outset and proceeds promptly to an almost constant interrelationship with the orchestra as the exposition unfolds but once.

      Second, there is the interlocking of the movements, achieved by leading not only from one movement to the next without appreciable pause in time or sound but also without either a definitive cadence (stopping point made clear by the harmonies) or full break in the continuity of harmonies or tonality. Thus in the Violin Concerto in E Minor, Opus 64 (1844), of Felix Mendelssohn (Mendelssohn, Felix), a lone bassoon suspends one note of the final chord of the first movement. Preventing a pause in time or sound, it leads directly into the middle movement. Again, between the middle and final movements a brief interlude, midway in tempo, mood, and intensity, supplies the continuity and avoids any full break.

      A third Romantic innovation is the effort to bind the cycle more positively through the use of related themes and motives in the successive movements. Such themes and motives can be only melodic nuclei, as in the so-called basic motive employed by Brahms. Or they may be more extended melodic thoughts, such as are subjected to “thematic metamorphosis” by Liszt (Liszt, Franz) or “cyclical (cyclic form)” treatment by the Belgian César Franck (Franck, César). (Both terms refer to the practice of transforming a theme melodically and rhythmically in various ways throughout the cycle of movements.) Among well-known examples is the tight thematic organization, with its final retrospective summary, in the four interconnected movements of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 (Triangle Concerto, published 1857), a work Liszt himself claimed to be innovational on this account.

      Fourth, there are certain other, more incidental, yet effective means of unifying the cycle. These include the sense of culminating joy or triumph in those many concerti that change from a minor home key to its tonic major (for example, from A minor to A major) for the finale; or the consistency of musical textures caused by making all the movements similar in weight and style; or the stronger sense of return achieved by a finale that follows a middle movement characterized by a marked sense of departure or contrast.

      The remaining two categories of changes concern Romantic developments that go somewhat beyond expansions (or contractions) of Classical concerto traditions. As a fifth category, there is the extramusical unification of the cycle by means of a program—that is, a story or image. Unlike the Romantic sonata, the Romantic concerto abounds in examples. One of the earliest such examples is the image that the German composer Carl Maria von Weber (Weber, Carl Maria von) identified with his Konzertstück (Concert Piece) for piano and orchestra (1821). Its four interconnected movements are said to describe a medieval lady's longing for her absent knight, her agonized fears for his safety, the excitement of his impending return, and the joys of reunion and love.

      Sixth and last, there are numerous efforts to contract or consolidate the concerto cycle still more drastically, by fusion of movements. Four different solutions may be cited as representative. Tchaikovsky's (Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich) Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor (1875) follows a number of symphonies and sonatas of the period by integrating the slow movement with the scherzo (a lively movement that had become a rather frequent additional item in the cycle). Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major (published 1863) is a pioneer among the several concerti that reduce the separate movements to sharply contrasting sections within a single movement. Franck's (Franck, César) Variations symphoniques for piano and orchestra (first performed 1885) substitute for the cycle a single movement based on a single principle of musical structure (in contrast to the distinct structures of distinct movements). And the Russian Nikolay Medtner's Piano Concerto in G Minor is a single, experimental variation of “sonata form.” It consists, as he himself explains,

of an exposition, [a short, transitional cadenza,] a series of [nine] variations on the two chief themes, constituting the development [section], and then the recapitulation.

      Still other changes from the Classical to the Romantic concerto are concerned less with overall plans than with language and idiom: the characteristic harmonies, melodic styles, and manner of musical development. But such changes were not limited to the concerto. They touched all of Romantic music. Among them are fuller, more varied textures, greater use of the high and low extremes of instruments' ranges, and more sonorous, widespread spacing of sounds. Indicative of the third development was the significant change in piano writing from the Alberti bass in close position to the “um-pah-pah” bass and free arpeggiations in open position.

      In addition there was a marked new preference for minor keys as being almost indispensable to the intensity of Romantic feeling. There was also an increased use of chromatic harmonies (chromaticism) (chords whose notes do not all belong to the key of the composition and that frequently seem to have a more expressive character). Similarly characteristic of the era were brief, temporary modulations whose functions were more colouristic than structural (i.e., they were introduced more for the harmonic colour they embody rather than strictly as a means of changing keys). Another new development was the late-Romantic turn to nationalistic colours, introducing folk melodies or allowing folk music to influence melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. An example is the Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra (1875), by the French composer Édouard Lalo.

Major contributions

      From beginning to end in the Romantic era, Germany reigned supreme in the concerto, both as leader and producer, as with all the major instrumental forms. The majority of the non-Germans whose concerti were more or less successful in their day were at least trained in Germany. Here, in one loose chronology, may be mentioned the most important of the Romantics from both in and out of Germany, along with their most important concerti, which generally are those with the best chance still of being heard today. The once successful piano concerti of the Czech Jan Ladislav Dussek and the Germans Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Ignaz Moscheles—all renowned virtuoso pianists—have given way to other early Romantic works. These include the Konzertstücke of Weber, two concerti by Mendelssohn, and, especially, two by Chopin and the one by Schumann. Mendelssohn's two piano concerti are rapidly slipping into the status of “student concerti” today, but his Violin Concerto in E Minor continues to hold top position in its class, along with the violin concerti of Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. These works followed and eclipsed the successes of Viotti, Paganini, the German Ludwig Spohr, and other violinist composers. Schumann left one of the era's few most played cello concerti, two others being the later ones by Saint-Saëns and the Czech Antonín Dvořák. As noted, Liszt (Liszt, Franz) was a pathbreaker with his two piano concerti. His other, more programmatic works for piano and orchestra are less played today, but they also exercised a variety of influences on such different late-Romantics as Grieg, Franck, the American Edward MacDowell, Rachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, and the Hungarian Ernő Dohnányi. Brahms's concerti, every one a highly popular masterpiece today, mark a peak for the era on the conservative side. They include besides the two piano concerti in D minor and B-flat major, the Violin Concerto in D Major and the Double Concerto in A Minor (with violin and cello as the solo instruments). Among later romantic concerti, though those onetime favourites for violin by Henri Vieuxtemps, Henryk Wieniawski, Max Bruch, Karl Goldmark, Aleksandr Glazunov, and Sir Edward Elgar have recently lost much ground in the concert hall, those of Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and, especially, Tchaikovsky still hold strong. Similarly, while the piano concerti of the famed piano virtuoso Anton Rubinstein are all but forgotten, two (in G minor and C minor) out of the five by Saint-Saëns and the Concerto No. 2 in D Minor by MacDowell get occasional hearings, and those already mentioned by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff remain among the most successful. Certain concerti are less likely to be heard at least partly because they are written for less usual solo instruments. These include works for bassoon by Weber; for clarinet by Spohr, Weber, and Ferruccio Busoni; and for horn by Weber and Richard Strauss.

The modern era (from about 1915)

      By and large, and up to about 1950, the concerto of the modern era has kept pace with the language and idiom of modern music. There has been little introduction of new principles, or new trends, or even further extensions of the structural changes that have been noted here in the Romantic era. If anything, it has turned back on itself. It has sloughed off the advances, if such they be, of the Romantic era and has reverted to styles and forms of the Baroque and Classical concerto. In so doing it has provided some of the most telling examples of the neo-Baroque and Neoclassical trends in modern music.

      More explicitly, the modern concerto has kept pace with the breakdown in traditional tonality and various efforts to revitalize, bypass, or replace that comfortably secure system. It has shared in the modern erosion of the contrast between chords traditionally considered consonant (i.e., bearing musical repose) and dissonant (i.e., bearing musical tension), thus contributing to the release of endless new chord forms and progressions. And it has joined in perhaps the most basic trend; i.e., the return from the Romantic and Classical tendency of groups of melodic phrases in predominantly homophonic textures to the Baroque ideal of interplay of melodic motives in predominantly polyphonic textures. But at the same time, the modern concerto has abandoned the gigantic orchestra, the massive technical requirements and extreme opposition of the solo part, and the decided preference for the piano as the ideal solo instrument. Similarly, it has abandoned the intensive effort to interconnect, consolidate, and contract the musical forms and has turned away from the frequent concern with extramusical programmatic content. The downgrading of virtuosity for its own sake has caused the soloist to become more a part of the orchestra again. Some modern works, such as Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Opus 26 (1921), by Prokofiev (Prokofiev, Sergey), do continue to offer some of the formidable difficulties, glittering passagework, and soaring lyricism of the late Romantic concerto in the solo part. But even in these, the nature of the modern musical language permits the soloist generally to blend with the orchestra rather than to “do battle” with it, as has been said regarding Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and similar concert favourites of the Romantic era.

      From the present limited perspective, no one country appears yet to have dominated the cultivation of the modern concerto. The total output has continued to be high, with nearly every composer of renown having contributed to it. Among representative German works that have won widest public endorsement—which, in the very nature of the solo concerto, must continue to be a main criterion—may be cited numerous concerti (mostly called “Chamber Music”) that Paul Hindemith (Hindemith, Paul) seems systematically to have written for almost every standard instrument as a solo, and for a variety of combinations. Both the Austrians Arnold Schoenberg (Schoenberg, Arnold) and his disciple Alban Berg left 12-tone concerti for violin and Schoenberg left one for piano. (Twelve-tone music (12-tone music) is based on a series or “row” of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, chosen by the composer to serve as the melodic and harmonic basis for the composition.)

      From France may be cited works by Claude Debussy for piano (Fantaisie) and for saxophone (Rapsodie); by Maurice Ravel for piano (two, of which one is for left hand alone) and for violin; and by Darius Milhaud for various instruments, even mouth organ, and various instrumental combinations, including percussion. From England there is a double concerto for violin and cello by Frederick Delius and there are various works by Sir Arnold Bax, Sir Arthur Bliss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir William Walton, and Benjamin Britten. Among examples from the United States are successful concerti by George Gershwin, including Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz orchestra, and by Aaron Copland, whose Piano Concerto (1926) also exploits jazz. Of major importance have been solo or duo concerti by Prokofiev (five for piano, two for violin, and one for cello), the Russian-born Igor Stravinsky (Stravinsky, Igor) (two for horn, one for violin, one for oboe, and one for clarinet and bassoon), and the Hungarian Béla Bartók (four for piano and three for violin). Attention also should be called to the neo-Baroque Harpsichord Concerto (1926), by the Spaniard Manuel de Falla.

      A special indication of neo-Baroque interest may be seen in the return on the part of a number of composers to the tutti–soli grouping, the motoric pulse, and the interplay of motives of the concerto grosso. Notable examples have been left by Bartók, Stravinsky, the German Max Reger, the Swiss-born Ernest Bloch, and the Austrian-born Ernst Krenek.

      The present discussion of the modern era has concerned developments largely ending by about 1950, although occasional returns to what might already be called the “traditional (solo) concerto” have occurred since, as by John Cage, Leon Kirchner, and Elliott Carter in the United States; by the Argentine Alberto Ginastera; the French composer Olivier Messiaen; the Greek Yannis Xenakis; and the Russian Dmitry Shostakovich. In the main, from 1950 on, the pronounced swing of the avant-garde to electronic (electronic music), computerized, and aleatory, or chance music, has tended to do away with everything traditionally identified with “concerto,” including the title itself. The only identifiable characteristic to remain is the basic idea of the group–solo relationship, as in several works by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Lukas Foss. That basic idea is essential not only to the concerto but to much other music. Whether it alone will survive in a way that still can be related to the venerable career of the concerto remains to be seen.

William S. Newman

Additional Reading

Abraham Veinus, The Concerto, rev. ed. (1964), the only broad survey in English, with good knowledge of the subject but generally not well documented; David Boyden, “When Is a Concerto Not a Concerto?” in the Musical Quarterly,43:220–232 (1957), an essential clarification of the word itself; Arnold Schering, Geschichte des Instrumentalkonzerts bis auf die Gegenwart, 2nd ed. (1927), the principal survey in any language, although now somewhat outdated and inadequate; Hans Engel, Die Entwicklung des deutschen Klavierkonzerts von Mozart bis Liszt, 2 parts (1927), the main survey of its topic, completed by Theophil Stengel, Die Entwicklung des Klavierkonzerts von Liszt bis zur Gegenwart (1931); Norman Carrell, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos (1963), an analytic discussion, well illustrated by examples and cuts; C.M. Girdlestone, Mozart's Piano Concertos (1948), separate analytic chapters on each of the main concerti; Ralph Hill (ed.), The Concerto (1961), an anthology of 29 articles primarily on the Romantic and Modern concerto; A.J.B. Hutchings, The Baroque Concerto (1961), inadequately documented and organized, but keen and authoritative in its observations; Pippa Drummond, The German Concerto: Five Eighteenth-Century Studies (1980), a summary of current research on five composers.

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