Concerto

A concerto (from the Italian: concerto, plural concerti or, often,

the anglicised form concertos) is a musical composition usually composed in three parts
or movements, in which (usually) one solo instrument (for instance, a piano, violin, cello or
flute) is accompanied by an orchestra or concert band.

The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of
the two Latin words conserere(meaning to tie, to join, to weave)
and certamen (competition, fight): the idea is that the two parts in a concerto, the soloist
and the orchestra or concert band, alternate episodes of opposition, cooperation, and
independence in the creation of the music flow.

The concerto, as understood in this modern way, arose in the Baroque period side by side
with the concerto grosso, which contrasted a small group of instruments with the rest of
the orchestra. The popularity of the concerto grosso form declined after the Baroque
period, and the genre was not revived until the 20th century. The solo concerto, however,
has remained a vital musical force from its inception to this day.

Early Baroque concerto

The term “concerto” was initially used to denote works involving voices and instruments in
which the instruments had independent parts—as opposed to the Renaissance common
practice in which the instruments that accompanied voices only doubled the voice
parts.  Examples of this earlier form of concerto include Giovanni Gabrieli’s “In Ecclesiis”
or Heinrich Schütz’s “Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich.”

Late Baroque concerto

The concerto began to take its modern shape in the late Baroque period. Starting from a
form called Concerto grosso popularized by Arcangelo Corelli, it evolved into the form we
understand today as performance of a soloist with/against an orchestra.

The main composers of concerti of the baroque were Tommaso Albinoni, Antonio

Vivaldi, Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel,Pietro
Locatelli, Giuseppe Tartini, Francesco Geminiani and Johann Joachim Quantz. The
concerto was intended as a composition typical of the Italian style of the time, and all the
composers were studying how to compose in the Italian fashion (all’italiana).

The baroque concerto was mainly for a string instrument (violin, viola, cello, seldom viola
d’amore or harp) or a wind instrument (oboe, trumpet, flute, or horn).
During the baroque period, before the invention of the piano, keyboard concertos were
comparatively rare, with the exception of the organ and some harpsichord concertos
by Johann Sebastian Bach. As the harpsichord evolved into the fortepiano, and in the end
to the modern piano, the increased volume and the richer sound of the new instrument
allowed the keyboard instrument to better compete with a full orchestra.
Cello concertos have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. Among the works
from that period, those by Antonio Vivaldi and Giuseppe Tartini are still part of the
standard repertoire today.
Classical concerto

Sonata form in the Classical Concerto.

 
The concerti of the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach are perhaps the best links between
those of the Baroque period and those of the Classical era.

It is conventional to state that the first movements of concerti from the Classical period
onwards follow the structure of sonata form. Final movements are often in rondo form, as
in J.S. Bach’s E Major Violin Concerto.