Concerto

In classical music, the word concerto (pl. concerti; from the Latin concertus, from certare, to strive) is a label for a piece in which a small musical group and a large musical group are given distinct roles, with the smaller group to the fore. The most common kind of concerto pairs a solo instrument with a full orchestra. The term also implies the form of a piece as most concerti follow sonata form, typically found with three movements.

Early usage

Early in the 17th century, and persisting in some cases into the mid-18th, the term "concerto" was applied as one of several indescriminate choices for any piece that featured opposing or contrasting sonic groups, particularly voices with continuo (see also concertato). The first major influences to the concerto were made by Antonio Vivaldi who established the ritornello form in the movements. He wrote the famous group of violin concerti titled The Four Seasons. By Johann Sebastian Bach's time the concerto as a polyphonic instrumental form was thoroughly established, the term frequently appears in the autograph title-pages of his church cantatas, even when the cantata contains no instrumental prelude. Indeed, so entirely does the actual concerto form, as Bach understands it, depend upon the opposition of masses of tone unequal in volume with a compensating inequality in power of commanding attention, that Bach is able to rewrite an instrumental movement as a chorus without the least incongruity of style.

Related Topics:
Continuo - Concertato - Antonio Vivaldi - Ritornello - Violin - The Four Seasons - Johann Sebastian Bach - Polyphonic - Cantata

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A splendid example of this is the first chorus of a university festival cantata, "Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten," the very title of which ("united contest of changing strings") is a perfect definition of the earlier form of concerto grosso, in which the chief mass of the orchestra was opposed, not to a mere solo instrument, but to a small group called the concertino or else the whole work was for a large orchestral mass in which tutti passages alternate with passages in which the whole orchestra is dispersed in every possible kind of grouping.

Related Topics:
Concerto grosso - Concertino

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But the special significance of this particular chorus is that it is arranged from the second movement of the first Brandenburg concerto and that while the orchestral material is unaltered except for transposition of key, enlargement of force and substitution of trumpets and drums for the original horns, the whole chorus part has been evolved from the solo part for a kit violin (violino piccolo).

Related Topics:
Brandenburg concerto - Kit violin

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This admirably illustrates Bach's grasp of the true idea of a concerto, namely, that whatever the relations may be between the forces in respect of volume or sound, the whole treatment of the form must depend upon the healthy relation of function between that force which commands more and that which commands less attention. Ceteris paribus the individual, suitably placed, will command more attention than the crowd, whether in real life, drama or instrumental music. And in music the human voice, with human words, will thrust any orchestral force into into the background, the moment it can make itself heard at all.

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Hence it is not surprising that the earlier concerto forms should show the closest affinity (not only in general aesthetic principle, but in many technical details) with the form of the vocal aria, as matured by Alessandro Scarlatti. And the treatment of the orchestra is, mutatis mutandis, exactly the same in both.

Related Topics:
Aria - Alessandro Scarlatti

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