concerto

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Arts & Culture

concerto

music

Also known as: concerto style

Written by William S. Newman

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

caricature of Antonio Vivaldi

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Category: Arts & Culture

Plural:: concerti or concertos

Key People:: Ludwig van Beethoven; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Johannes Brahms; Igor Stravinsky

Related Topics:: concerto grosso; vocal-instrumental concerto; Konzertstück; concerto da chiesa; solo concerto

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concerto, since about 1750, a musical composition for instruments in which a solo instrument is set off against an orchestral ensemble. The soloist and ensemble are related to each other by alternation, competition, and combination. In this sense the concerto, like the symphony or the string quartet, may be seen as a special case of the musical genre embraced by the term sonata. Like the sonata and symphony, the concerto is typically a cycle of several contrasting movements integrated tonally and often thematically. The individual movements are usually based on certain recognized designs, including sonata form, A B A (the ...(100 of 13178 words)

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