Concerto grosso

Concerto grosso

The concerto grosso (Italian for big concert(o), plural concerti grossi) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno). This is in contrast to the concerto which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra.

The form developed in the late seventeenth century, although the name was not used at first. Alessandro Stradella seems to have written the first music in which two groups of different sizes are combined in the characteristic way. The name was first used by Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori in a set of 10 compositions published in Lucca in 1698[1]. The first major composer to use the term concerto grosso was Arcangelo Corelli. After Corelli's death, a collection of twelve of his concerti grossi was published; not long after, composers such as Francesco Geminiani, Pietro Locatelli and Giuseppe Torelli wrote concertos in the style of Corelli. He also had a strong influence on Antonio Vivaldi.

Two distinct forms of the concerto grosso exist: the concerto da chiesa (church concert) and the concerto da camera (chamber concert). (See also Sonata for a discussion about sonatas da camera and da chiesa.) The concerto da chiesa alternated slow and fast movements; the concerto da camera had the character of a suite, being introduced by a prelude and incorporating popular dance forms. These distinctions blurred over time.

Corelli's concertino group was invariably two violins and a cello, with a string section as ripieno group. Both were accompanied by a basso continuo with some combination of harpsichord, organ, lute or theorbo. Handel wrote several collections of concerti grossi, and several of the Brandenburg Concertos by Bach also loosely follow the concerto grosso form.

The concerto grosso form was superseded by the solo concerto and the sinfonia concertante in the late eighteenth century, and new examples of the form did not appear for more than a century. In the twentieth century, the concerto grosso has been used by composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Ernest Bloch, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Bohuslav Martinů, Malcolm Williamson, Henry Cowell, Alfred Schnittke, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Andrei Eshpai, Eino Tamberg, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jean Françaix and Philip Glass. While Edward Elgar may not be considered a modern composer, his romantic Introduction and Allegro strongly resembled the instrumentation setup of a concerto grosso.

See also

References

  1. ^ Treccani Dizionario Biografico [1]
  • Bennett, R. (1995). Investigating Musical Styles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.



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  • Concerto Grosso — Pendant la période baroque, un concerto grosso est une forme musicale pour ensemble instrumental important, relevant de la tradition italienne. La dénomination de « concerto grosso » apparaît la première fois vers 1670 dans la partition …   Wikipédia en Français

  • concerto grosso — (izg. končȇrto grȍso) m DEFINICIJA glazb. višestavčani instrumentalni koncert oblikovan na principu suprotstavljanja i izmjenjivanja dvaju instrumentalnih skupina ETIMOLOGIJA tal. concerto grosso: veliki koncert …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • concerto grosso — [grō′sō] n. pl. concerti grossi [grō′sē] [It, lit., big concerto] a composition for a small group of solo instruments, as a trio, contrasted with and accompanied by a full orchestra …   English World dictionary

  • Concerto grosso — (ital., spr. tscherto), ältere Instrumentalkompositionen (z.B. von Händel) für mehrere Solostimmen mit Orchesterbegleitung …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Concerto grosso — Pendant la période baroque, un concerto grosso est une forme musicale pour ensemble instrumental important, relevant de la tradition italienne. La dénomination de « concerto grosso » apparaît la première fois vers 1670 dans la partition …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Concerto Grosso — Bei einem Concerto grosso steht eine kleine, solistisch behandelte Gruppe von Instrumenten (Concertino, it. kleines Konzert) einer größeren (Concerto grosso, it. großes Konzert) gegenüber; Passagen, in denen beide Gruppen gemeinsam spielen,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Concerto grosso — Arcangelo Corelli, primer compositor en usar el término concerto grosso. El concerto grosso (plural concerti grossi) (italiano para gran concierto) era una popular forma de música barroca usada por un conjunto musical que generalmente tenía de… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Concerto grosso — Bei einem Concerto grosso steht eine kleine, solistisch behandelte Gruppe von Instrumenten (Concertino, it. kleines Konzert) einer größeren (Concerto grosso, it. großes Konzert) gegenüber; Passagen, in denen beide Gruppen gemeinsam spielen,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • concerto grosso — /keuhn cher toh groh soh/; It. /kawn cherdd taw grddaws saw/, pl. concerti grossi /keuhn cher tee groh see/; It. /kawn cherdd tee grddaws see/, concerto grossos. a musical form, common in the Baroque period, in which contrasting sections are… …   Universalium

  • Concerto grosso — Con|cer|to grọs|so 〈[kɔntʃɛ̣rto ] n.; , ti si; in der Barockmusik〉 Konzert für Orchester u. Soloinstrumente [ital., „großes Konzert“] * * * Con|cẹr|to grọs|so, das; , …ti …ssi [ital. concerto grosso, aus: concerto ↑ (Konzert) u. grosso = groß] …   Universal-Lexikon

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