18 Jun WHAT ARE THE MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE CONCERTO?
WHAT ARE THE MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE CONCERTO?
September 20, 2018Posted by: kajo No Comments
ASSIGNMENT: The meaning of the term concerto has changed at least three times in the history of music. What are the major elements of the concerto? Is there always a soloist? Is there a traditional musical form? Refer to the listening examples in the Special Focus (Concertos) to support your conclusions. This assignment requires a full page (400 to 500 words) submission. PLEASE DO THE ASSIGNMENT BASED ON THE LESSON BELOW and a few research…. just follow the direction here.
Lesson:
Special Focus: The Concerto
This Special Focus explores the concerto and the relationship between the soloist and the orchestra.
Search the Internet or the library for the term concerto. To narrow your search, you could type the words concerto and history (only sites with these terms are returned). Or look up appropriate phrases. Putting the words between quotation marks gives you information on the whole phrase (try pairing concerto with different words or phrase combinations, depending on your area of interest, e.g., Bach, “20th Century,” composing, Paganini, 1800s, soloist, exposition, symphony, history, etc.)
Listen to the following selections (you will refer to these in your writing assignment):
The Four Seasons (Spring), by Antonio Vivaldi
Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major, by Joseph Haydn
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for Orchestra, by Béla Bartók
Concerto Grosso 1985, by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Orchestral Concerto
The concerto grosso of the Baroque Period developed into the solo concerto of the Classical Period, and finally into the orchestral concerto as in Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra (studied in Lesson 10). This work is called a concerto because of the soloistic nature of the instruments within the orchestra; it is in essence a return to the orchestral concertos of the Baroque Era. Modern concertos continued to experiment with different combinations of soloists and orchestra. The orchestra itself was also changing. For example, Arthur Bliss wrote a concerto for an interesting combination of piano, tenor voice, xylophone, and strings in 1933. Ellen Zwilich’s Concerto Grosso 1985 is another intriguing work written in the spirit of an orchestral concerto. There is no specific soloist; there are five movements, and the theme is based on a theme from Handel’s Sonata in D for violin. With this work, the term “concerto” seems to have come full circle from the Baroque Era.
Finally, the 1965 composition Piano Concerto, by Elliott Carter, integrates three contrasting elements. In this two-movement work, the orchestra and piano soloist are musically immiscible; there is, however, a concertino group of seven instrumentalists that acts as an intermediary between the musical ideas presented in the orchestra and the conflicting ideas of the pianist. Carter raised contrast to yet another level of complexity and intellectualism. The term “concerto” has remained fluid for centuries and continues to reappear as new forms in which contrasting musical ideas and sounds excite and surprise.
The Instrumental Soloist -Concerto
Seeing and hearing a virtuoso effortlessly perform demanding music is awe inspiring. Anyone who has tried to play an instrument realizes the technical skill required to play even moderately difficult music; hearing virtuoso talent in light of one’s own attempt at playing the same instrument is sensational. The premier form for virtuoso display is the concerto. The word “concerto” has been a part of music history for hundreds of years. The first secular concert work called a concerto is attributed to Torelli in 1686. The form was quickly adopted and developed by Corelli and Vivaldi. The first concertos were orchestral works featuring several soloists or a small ensemble within the orchestra.
We first encountered these orchestral concertos in our study of the Baroque Period with the work of Vivaldi. Review the example of The Four Seasons in Lesson 6; much of the drama of the concerto grosso came from the virtuosic displays of the soloists and the contrasting dynamic levels between the soloists and the orchestra. The concerto grosso commonly pitted the tone colors of two, three, or four soloists against a full orchestral backdrop, perhaps the most famous being the Brandenburg Concertos by J. S. Bach. His six concerto grossi featured many different instruments from various instrumental families. The second concerto, in particular, combined the most diverse of instrumental soloists: the trumpet, flute, oboe, and violin.
In the Classical Period, the concerto retained the three-movement structure of the concerto grosso, but featured only one soloist. These works were often written by composers who were themselves great soloists. The most notable composer-performers in this period were Mozart and Beethoven. Their mastery of this form and their superior ability to improvise brilliant cadenzas set standards by which others would compose and perform.
The Soloist and Improvisation
A cadenza generally appears in the first movement and sometimes in the last. It traditionally follows a dissonant chord played by the orchestra. The soloist continues with exciting technical displays of skill, playing fast scales and arpeggios. The cadenza usually develops material presented earlier in the movement. The orchestra waits in silence until the soloist is finished. The signal ending the cadenza is customarily a long trill; after this, the orchestra finally resolves t
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