Instrumental concerto: history, concept, specifics

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Visitors of the Philharmonic halls are familiar with the special, upbeat atmosphere that reigns during an instrumental music concert. It attracts attention how the soloist competes with the whole orchestral team. The specificity and complexity of the genre lies in the fact that the soloist must constantly prove the superiority of his instrument over others participating in the concert.

The concept of an instrumental concerto, specifics

Basically, concertos are written for instruments rich in their sound capabilities - violins, pianos, cellos. Composers try to give the concertos a virtuoso character in order to maximize the artistic possibilities and technical virtuosity of the chosen instrument.

However, an instrumental concert implies not only a competitive nature, but also precise coordination between the performers of the solo and accompanying parts. Containsconflicting trends:

• Unleashing the power of one instrument versus the whole orchestra.
• Perfection and consistency of the complete ensemble.

Perhaps the specificity of the concept of "concert" has a double meaning, and all because of the dual origin of the word:

1. Concertare (from Latin) - "compete";
2. Concerto (from Italian), concertus (from Latin), koncert (from German) - "consent", "harmony".

Thus, an "instrumental concerto" in the general sense of the concept is a piece of music performed by one or more solo instruments with orchestral accompaniment, where a smaller part of those taking part opposes a larger one or the entire orchestra. Accordingly, instrumental "relationships" are built on partnership and rivalry in order to provide an opportunity for each of the soloists to demonstrate virtuosity in performance.

The history of the genre

In the 16th century, the word "concert" was first used to refer to vocal and instrumental works. The history of the concerto, as a form of ensemble playing, has ancient roots. Joint performance on several instruments with a clear promotion of the solo "voice" is found in the music of many nations, but initially these were polyphonic spiritual compositions with instrumental accompaniment, written for cathedrals and churches.

Up to the middle of the XVII concept"concert" and "concert" referred to vocal-instrumental works, and in the 2nd half of the 17th century strictly instrumental concertos already appeared (first in Bologna, then in Venice and Rome), and this name was assigned to chamber compositions for several instruments and changed its name to concerto grosso ("big concert").

The first founder of the concert form is the Italian violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli, he wrote a concerto in three parts at the end of the 17th century, in which there was a division into solo and accompanying instruments. Then, in the 18th-19th centuries, there was a further development of the concert form, where the most popular were the piano, violin, and cello performances.

Instrumental concert in the XIX-XX century

The history of the concert as a form of ensemble playing has ancient roots. The concerto genre has come a long way of development and formation, obeying the stylistic trends of the time.

The concerto experienced its new birth in the works of Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Rubinstein, Mozart, Servais, Handel, etc. Vivaldi's concerto work consists of three parts, of which the two extreme ones are fast enough, they surround the middle one - slow. Gradually, occupying solo positions, the harpsichord is replaced by an orchestra. Beethoven in his works brought the concerto closer to the symphony, in which the parts merged into one continuous composition.

Until the 18th century, the orchestral composition was, as a rule, random, for the most partstrings, and composer creativity directly depended on the composition of the orchestra. Subsequently, the formation of permanent orchestras, the development and search for a universal orchestral composition contributed to the formation of the concert genre and the symphony, and the performed musical works began to be called classical. Thus, speaking of an instrumental performance of classical music, they mean a concert of classical music.

Philharmonic Society

In the 19th century, symphonic music actively developed in Europe and America, and for its public wide propaganda, state philharmonic societies began to be created, contributing to the development of musical art. The main task of such societies, in addition to propaganda, was to promote development and organize concerts.

The word "philharmonic" comes from two components of the Greek language:

• phileo - "to love";
• harmonia - "harmony", "music".

The Philharmonic Society today is, as a rule, a state institution, which sets itself the task of organizing concerts, promoting highly artistic musical works and performing skills. A concert at the Philharmonic is a specially organized event aimed at getting acquainted with classical music, symphony orchestras, instrumentalists and vocalists. Also in the philharmonics you can enjoy folklore music, including songs and dances.