concerto grosso: see concerto.

concerto, musical composition usually for an orchestra and a soloist or a group of soloists. In the 16th cent. concertare and concertato implied an ensemble, either vocal or instrumental. At the end of the century concerto referred to music in which two ensembles contested with each other. By 1750 it meant music contrasting a full ensemble with soloists in alternation. The form known as concerto grosso is characterized by a small group of solo players contrasted with the full orchestra. Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709) and Vivaldi established the concerto grosso in three movements, while Corelli used four or more, alternating fast and slow movements. These three composers were active in the development of all forms of the concerto in the baroque period. J. S. Bach's six Brandenburg concertos and the concertos of Handel represent the fullest development of the baroque type. Toward the end of the 18th cent. the solo concerto displaced the concerto grosso. Mozart established the classical concerto in three movements, the first of which is a fusion of ritornello form with the newer sonata form, for solo instrument and orchestra. Beethoven expanded the dimensions of this form, giving greater importance to the orchestra. In the 19th cent. Liszt unified the concerto by using the same themes in all movements. He used the concerto form as a showcase for virtuoso display in the solo. The concerto repertory is strongest in works for piano and violin as the solo instrument. In the 20th cent. renewed interest in the concerto grosso has been manifested by such composers as Hindemith, Bartók, and Schnittke. Although previously reliant on the principle of tonality, the solo concert adapted to atonality and serial music, as in the concertos of Schoenberg and Berg.

Principal orchestral music of the Baroque era, characterized by contrast between a small group of soloists and a larger orchestra. The small group (concertino) usually consisted of two violins and continuo, the instruments of the older trio sonata, though wind instruments were also used. The larger group (ripieno) generally consisted of strings with continuo. Alessandro Stradella (1642–82) wrote the first known concerto grosso circa 1675. Arcangelo Corelli's set of 12 (circa 1680–90), Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos (circa 1720), and George Frideric Handel's Opus 6 concertos (circa 1740) are the most celebrated examples. From 1750 the concerto grosso was eclipsed by the solo concerto.

Learn more about concerto grosso with a free trial on Britannica.com.

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.

Learn more about concerto with a free trial on Britannica.com.