Baroque Concerto

Solo and tutti answer each other, making contrast the core of Baroque music.

Related

BaroqueConcertoConcerto GrossoViolin

The Baroque concerto sets a soloist or group against the full band. Contrast, return and display make up its grammar.

Origins

In late seventeenth-century Italy, concerto first meant voices competing together. Corelli wrote concerti grossi in Rome, setting a solo group against the full band; Torelli pushed the solo concerto in Bologna; Vivaldi fixed the fast-slow-fast shape and the return of the tutti theme in Venice. Bach reworked it for keyboard and wrote the Brandenburg Concertos, and Handel wrote organ concertos.

Listening features

The tutti states the theme, the solo takes it over and decorates it, and the theme returns, forming the ritornello. Solo passages bring quick scales, arpeggios and double stops, while the band supplies harmony over continuo. In a concerto grosso, listen for the dynamic and colour contrast between solo group and full band; in a solo concerto, hear one instrument stand out from the orchestra. The three movements contrast in speed and mood.

Composers and works

Corelli's Op. 6 concerti grossi established the principle of contrast. Vivaldi's Four Seasons imitates birds and storms on the violin, Bach's Brandenburg No. 5 lifts the harpsichord into a solo role, and Handel's organ concertos bring a church instrument into the concert hall.

Lineage

The concerto grosso and the solo concerto merge into the Classical concerto with its double exposition and the Romantic virtuoso concerto; their dialogue also shapes the symphony.

Misconceptions

A concerto is not an orchestra accompanying a soloist; the two sides take turns carrying the theme. Baroque concertos do not usually use the piano: harpsichord, organ and violin are more common. Concerto grosso does not mean a large concerto but a contrast between a solo group and the full band.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "Concerto" — terms and dating checked, not quoted
• Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 2 — context checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.